Irrigation and flood control book by L. M. Winsor, 1963

IRRIGATION
And
FLOOD CONTROL
by
WINSOR
THE AUTHOR'S SUMMA.RY OF EXPERIENCE
He was born at Hebron, Utah on January 21, 1884. His first recollection
is that of being out with his father attempting to "help" in the irrigation of a
large garden. He has spent his life with water and problems related to water.
During his early youth he was on an irrigated ranch five miles west of Hebron
most of the time . At the age of thirteen and fourteen he was responsible for the
irrigation of crops on a large farm near St. George , Utah .
At the age of fourteen and fifteen he mixed mortar and assisted a rock
mason then helped to make and lay brick, becoming a fairly good brick mason.
At the age of sixteen to twenty he obtained experience in surveying by
helping to locate, f i rst the extension to California of what is now the Union
Pacific Railroad; then the Western Pacific Railroad; then on the Denver & Rio
Grand Railroad he helped to locate and build the narrow gauge from Mack, Colorado
over Ache Pass to Dragon, Utah. On this assignment he obtained considerable ex­perience
in handling surveying instruments. But , he felt the need for education.
In 1904 he registered at the State Agricultural College, at Logan , Utah, where he
spent the next seven years. (Three years in preparatory work and four years at
college. )
In 1905 and 1906 he aided Dr. John A. Widstoe in tabulating irrigation
results for his irrigation bulletins . I n 1907 and 1908 he made moisture
determinations before and after irr i gation from soil samples which he obtained
on the experimental farm. He also made moisture determinations of crops grown
there.
In 1909 he worked under the State Engineer and measured all water in
canals from Logan River. This water was being delivered to water- users. In 1910
he received an appointment in the United States Division of Irrigation Investigations
and studied the use of water in crop production. This was continued in 1911.
Then, in 1911 he became the first County Agent in the north and west and was
appointed to Uintah Basin. (The Smith-Lever act creating County Agents was passed
i
in 1912.)
He went from Uintah Basin to Colorado in 1912 and became the first County
Agent in the five Counties of San Luis Valley . While in thi•s capacity he was taken
to Washing ton D.C. for a month when the County Agent program was being launched.
He had received a degree as an Irrigation Engineer, the first to be issued
in Utah, and the first to be conferred anywhere so far as the author is aware.
(He went to Uintah Basin and to t he Colorado assignments because of his experience
in handling water.)
In 1913 he returned to Utah as Irrigation Spec ialis t , and remained in
that position until 1934. During that t ime many floods occured in Utah, and t he
Barrier System of control was worked out by him.
In 1918 he had gone to Chile, South America, to work on a food production
problem for American Smelting and Refining Company. Their mine in Chile is located
on a high plateau under the Andes mountains. (It never rains there.) All food
had to be brought in by train and there was no refrigeration. The company wished
to increase its mining community from I~OOO to 4~OOO people, and desired to
produce most of t he food locally . This meant irrigation.
The project was closed in 1919 because of a drop in the price of copper.
In 1933 the author was loaned to the United States Forest Service. Twenty
two C C C Camps were established in Utah, Nevada and Colorado. (In Nevada there
were t wo, in Colorado, one.) All camps devoted their time to flood control. He
outlined work programs for all of them and supervised operation.
In 1934 he was appointed by the President of the United States of America
to a committee to work out a plan for the control of floods and erosion on the
Navajo Indian Reservation. The same year he put the plan into operation then moved
to Albuquerque as engineer in the first office set up for erosion control, in t he
newly organized Bureau of Soil Conservation. From Albuquerque he went to several
states, as far east as Virginia and helped to establish other offices and services
in the new bureau. In this capacity he served as Chief Engineer.
In 1927 he had laid out the Bear River Bird Refuge, (Later a similar
ii
refuge was built under his supervision at the mouth of Weber River . ) The Bear River
Refuge was completed in 1929.
In 1935 he went to Minot, North Dakota and laid ou t and built 9 refuges
for U.S. Biological Survey. These were located in North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and Montana. From there, when Biological Survey
became Fish and Wild Life Service, he went on west. He established under
J . C. Sallier, further improvements for wild life; antelope and elk in wyoming;
elk in Montana; ducks and geese in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Northern California.
Then antelope in Nevada; bighorn sheep in Oregon, Nevada and along Mexican border
in the high mountains of Southern Arizona. Other refuges for ducks and geese
were built in California, Nevada , New Mexico and Texas.
Meanwhile headquarters were established at Salt Lake City, Utah. From
t here he was able to cover all the terr i tory west of the Mississippi River, and
to look after the work under way .
In 1941 he sailed west from San Francisco for Iran where he had agreed to
serve as advisor in water problems to Shah Rezah; but, when he reached Bombay, India
three months later, Iran had been invaded by Russia and by the Briti sh, and Shah
Rezah was taken captive to Africa, where he died a few months later.
The United States of America came in as mediator. A new government was
set up in Iran and Pahlavi, the present Shah, was placed on the throne. The author
was requested by cable to proceed to Teheran . His service was needed. He changed
ships and continued to his destination . But he soon found that he could do very
little as advisor. At his request the three Ministries that were "dabbling" with
irrigation were consolidated into one. under the Ministry of Agriculture, and he
was made Director General. Thus his hands were "untied" and he was given the
authority he required.
He re t urned to America in 1946. He had comple ted a trip all t he way
around the world.
He entered the service of the Utah State Road Commission at once, and
had the responsibility of controling floods that menace highways in Utah. Also
iii
that of installing culverts.
Boring equipment was soon procured. After it was obtained no hard
surfaced road was permitted to be cut in Utah . When a contractor complained that
he had no way of installing a culvert or culverts except to cut the road, he was
told that the state would make the install ation. That he would be charged only
operating expense, nothing for use of the equipment. Of course he accepted, and
the installation was made by the state.
In 1955 the author was required to retire from the state road commission
at the age of seventy one and one half years. Immediately his service was reques ted
by American Smelting and Ref ining Company , for Black Lake, Quebec, Canada, where
the company had procured a mine that was fifty feet under lake level. In 1927
the author had outlined and supervised the ins tallation of a system of flood control
above the company's Garfield smelter, twenty two miles west of Salt Lake City.
He has had full charge of construction ever s ince. The company has built the best
set of flood control works in the world. In 1927 one third of the plant was destroyed.
The company had to decide whether to build the controls or move the smelter. It
was decided to build the controls . They knew him and wanted his service in Canada.
Twenty one round trips were made to the job. The las t one was in 1962 and that
was only for a "check up" to see that everything was all right.
While with the state road commission Provo Airport was diked and saved.
I t had been built by U.S. Army Engineers below the lake level. It was flooded
2 feet deep in 1947.
These experiences have been of such character as to make it seem to be
advisable that this book be written.
The book may find a place as a guide for the practical student of
irrigation and flood control.
iv
Table of Contents
Irrigation in Uintah Basin
Difficulty in making dry soils take water
Removing burned spots
Irrigation
Before planting rather than after planting
Irrigation of potatoes
Irrigation of Alfalfa
Irrigation of Orchards
Methods of Irrigation water delivery
Ro tation.
Use of -
Canal s
Floods
Continuous flow •
Call system.
Small Reservoirs .
Use in storage over holiday or over night
Large Reservoirs.
Ground water.
Shoal Creek .
Need for cooperation in building canal headworks
In South America
In Iran .
In U. S. A.
Early experience .
Flood at Spring City, Utah
Consolidation
Consolidation at Daniel
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
5
5
6
6
7-8
8-9-10
10
10
10
11
11
12
13
13
Jetties .
At Santa Clara Creek, Utah
On Provo River
Weber River
Terracing
Headward Erosion
Pomerene, Arizona
Struc tures .
Back Filling
Compaction with water essential.
Rubble Masonry .
Gravel & Sand Control
Early Experience
The Barrier System .
At Kennecott Smelter
A t Farmington.
A t Willard
Drop Inlets in Southern Utah
At Kanarrah
At Minersville - Milford
At Skull-rock Pass
Drops above bridges.
Sal ina Canyon.
Vernal
Loss of Head at intake to culverts corrected
At Vernal.
Near Preston, Idaho
At Black Lake in Canada
At Willow Creek Country Club
•
The Barrier System employed at Willow Creek Country Club
•
•
13
13
14
lS
lS
15-16
16
17
18-19
19-20
21
22
23
23
24
2S
26
26
27
28
28
28
30
30
30
30
31
31
Hydraulic Fills (Leo A. Snow)
At Five Mile Gulch
At Black Lake in Canada
Bines Gulch (In Idaho) .
Movement of silt
Black-Willow plantings
Finale .
At Five Mile Wash, Idaho . . .
Bosque Del Apache, New Mexico.
St. David, Arizona
Picture supplement
Supplement Flood Control
Flood Control by U. S. Army Engineers.
Los Angeles County Flood Control .
The Barrier System of Flood Control
Map of Los Angeles Area
•
32
33
34
37
37
38
39
39
40
41
79
79
79
81
83
IRRIGATION AND FLOOD OONl'ROL
By
L. M. Winsor
In order that there shall be a record of observations and findings
during sixty three years of active service in irrigation and flood control
experience this book is written. Reference is made to a situation that dates
back to 1891 , and observations refer to conditions that existed thousands of
years ago. But the major considerations are confined to actual observations
and findings.
IRRIGATION IN UINl'AH BASIN
Difficulty in Making New Soil Take Water
Homesteaders on new lands of the former Indian Reservation in Uintah
Basin found it necessary to irrigate every three or four days in order to keep
their crops growing. In answer to their questions they were told that in all
probability they were not getting water into the deeper soil.
One irrigator said , "Well this soil should be soaked all the way down
to China. " Water has been running here for fifteen hours." A shovel revealed
dry subsoil within s ix inches of the surface , or the depth of plowing.
Steps were taken immediately to find some way to force the water down.
Strips were l aid out through the fields, and each irrigation was followed by
cultivation, or a stirring or s urface soil. On similar land a plot was diked
and water was held within the dikes, continuously. But results were negative.
Finally it was concluded to try late and early irrigation. Late
irrigation would be followed by freezing. The moist soil would freeze. The
subsoil would also freeze, somet imes as deep as three feet. The frost action
should make penetration of moisture easier if the water were applied very earl y ,
when the frost would be l eaving the deeper soil .
This system was followed. An exper imental tract had been establ i shed.
Str ips through fields were continued.
1
As a result, after the very early irrigation, moisture had penetrated
deeper than ten feet. (A ten foot soil auger was the longest available)
On the experimental tract, crops were grown to maturity with no further
irrigation. Other plots received one, and still others two additional irrigations.
One more irrigation brought worthwhile results; but two irrigations following
the very early application, were not necessary. The increase in yield was very
slight.
Conclusions reached in Uintah Basin were carried to Green River in
Grand County , to Carbon County and to Emery County, where soil conditions are
similar and where difficulty was being experienced by irrigators in forcing
water into subsoils. Results were posit i ve , so far as penetration was concerned .
One serious difficulty followed. Once penetration was made , too much
water was added , and water- logging of subsoils and concentration of alkali on
the s urface followed. In a very few cases the water users took seriously the
advice to use water sparingly .
I n most instances drainage was found to be necessary in order to
continue crop product i on .
Removing Burned Spots
It was found that burned spots in alfalfa in partiCUlar. may be
eliminated by the use of very early water . Sometimes these spots were found
to be a little higher than surrounding land. I n this event they were dressed
down . But usually the subsoi l never received the required moisture. Always it
was found to be desireable to observe conditions as regards subsoil. Then steps
were taken to bring about a remedy.
Very early i rrigation was found to be effect i ve in obtaining a cure
for "burned spots"
I rrigate Before Rather Than After Planting
I t was learned a long time ago that a seed-bed must have adequate
moisture at planting t i me. It was the erroneous practice of some farmers, before
2
1920, to plant the seed in a dry soil then irrigate after for germination. This
was proved to be a bad practice. Much better results were obtained py irrigating
before planting. It was then possible to keep the crop growing uniformly and
it required much less total water than was the case where irrigation followed
planting.
The crop grown where tests were made was sugar beets. Tests were run
in Sevier County near Richfield. Results were definitely in favor of irrigation
before planting.
Keep Potatoes Growing
In the case of potatoes, i t was learned by experiment, that it is never
advisable to let the soil become dry after the potatoes bloom. (That is when
the crop is formed).
If the soil becomes dry after the new potatoes are formed, then they
stop growing. When water is applied the "tubers" start growing again, and "knots"
are formed. This throws the final crop into third or fourth class instead of
first class where it will be if the crop, when formed, is kept growing, and
uniform potatoes are produced, without "kno ts".
Irrigation of Alfalfa
One early irrigation i s always good for the first crop. If late fall
irrigation has been applied the previous year and this is followed by early spring
irrigation the alfalfa field will make two, even three crops without further
application. In cases where water is not applied until May, then one irrigation
is necessary for the first crop. A second irrigation, if possible, before the
first cutting is removed will u'sually be required for a second crop. A third
irrigation for a th ird crop; and a fourth for the fourth crop, and so on.
In warm countries where as many as ten crops of alfalfa are produced,
ten irrigations may no t be required. (So far as information has been obtained,
experiments have not been conducted to determine the amount of water required in
such cases). Suffice to say: "Such crops as alfalfa, consume water in proportion
to the number of crops grown rather than being measured by the quantity required
for s ingle crops like small grain, sugar- beets, potatoes etc. "
3
Irrigation of Orchards
Some experiments were made to determine the effect of water in fruit
production. The experiment was with peaches. It was found that water applied
liberally, after the peach pit was well grown, had a marked effect upon the rate
of growth and the size of the peach produced. A growth of as much as one inch
per day, in circumference was produced by holding water off , until the pit was
grown, then by applying it liberally until the crop began to ripen.
Large peaches were produced, and they were full of juice. But they
did no t sh ip to marke t on the Atlantic Sea Board so well as peaches that were
smaller, but firmer , having received less water while maturing.
METHODS OF DELIVERY OF WATER TO IRRIGATORS
Rotation
The most common method of delivery is by rotation. In a few rare
cases users receive a "turn" once per week at a certain hour and minute. But
this is unusual because i t means that water comes to some one every Sunday or at
night which has its disadvantages. Furthermore, when the stream becomes small it
usually happens that users become more careless in its use. They may even leave
it running in the same place for hours, even days while they go about other work.
The objections to rotation once per week are met usual ly, by carrying
the rotation over a longer period , say every eight days or even every fifteen days.
(usually not longer). In either event i t means that schedules must be worked out
in advance. Sometimes i t is of advantage to break the rotation up still further,
say every eight and one-half days, so that t he " turn" will not start at the same
time, day or night, each t ime. This is of particular help to small users whose turn
las ts for only a few hours. It could happen that in some cases the small user
would have his turn only at night, if the eight day rotation were practiced.
Continuous Flow Delivery
Some mountain streams have an abundance of water, during periods of
"high water", in which event , "continuous flow" delivery is possible and may be
helpful. However , "continuous flow" usually means excessive, careless, use of
4
water. When the stream falls off and particularly when it falls down to a small
amount, continuous flow delivery becomes very difficult . In some cases the flow
is so smal l that when it is divided equally among the users, the small user
sometimes has barely enough to reach his farm. All streams become small, and it
is desireable that they be combined and carried in rotation from farm to farm so
that each will have sufficient to demand attention while it lasts. This means
that schedules must be worked out and users must be notified when their turn
will begin and when it will end . Naturally the office must know how much each
user is entitled to and his schedule is worked ou t accordingly.
The Call Sys tem
Where the stream is large, such as on Snake River Canals in Idaho,
the "call system" works out to good advantage. In t his event the user applies
in advance for the water he wants, and specifies the time it i s to begin, and the
amount wanted. For example, if he is irrigating alfalfa, he can use a large
stream, usually, a shorter time , and he knows in advance about when he will want
the water. If nis crop is sugar beets , and the seed bed, when planted contains
adequate moisture, he knows that he will want a moderate stream at about a certain
time for about so long , then it will be repeated after so many days . He must
be able to determine very closely what his requirements will be.
If the crop is potatoes, or if he has some alfalfa, some sugar beets
and some potatoes, he must be able to specify how much water he will need. He
can then draw up to his right , and can hold water back as he wishes. At any
event both the user and the company must be well informed. The watermaster must
be provided with adequate measuring devices and must know how to use them.
Smal l Reservoirs
Sometimes users on small streams have provided private, small reservoirs
into which the small stream is turned, then he opens the reservoir and makes a
large stream flow while he uses it to much better advantage than he would be
able to use the small , continuous flow.
Somet imes the irrigation company makes a small reservoir where the small
5
stream is stored. Then a large stream is turned down to users. Naturally the water
is delivered according to rights .
It happens occasionally that a company stores the water over short
holiday periods , or over Sunday.
Storage Overnight
To avoid night irrigation, it is sometimes possible to s tore the
entire stream overnight, or during a celebration, and in that way make a better
use of the small flow than would be possible if night. Sunday, and holiday use
be required.
It is possible to store a small stream in a small reservoir, then turn
to the irrigator a large stream for a shorter time. When the company does not
provide them, small, private reservoirs are used by progressive irrigators who
desire to make the best possible use of a small stream.
Large Reservoirs
Usually with large reservoirs it is possible for users to have water
in the volume they want when they want it. It is the exception rather than
the rule when this is not the practice. But, to do this both irrigator and
company , through the watermaster, must know requirements and how to satisfy them.
In some cases the users may want water late in the fall and early in
the spring , even before canals are cleaned ready for the seasons operation. Or,
as is sometimes true the system may be cleaned in the fall, ready for early
spring use . (This practice is adopted as standard by companies that know the
value of early irrigation.) It was common that canal and lateral systems should
not be cleaned until after spring planting and other early, urgent work is over;
but this falacious rule has been overcome by the more wide awake users who know
the value of very early water, and get ready for it.
Certain late season crops such as sugar beets where adequate moisture
was available at planting time require water only after the ground has become
shaded . In this case the first irrigation usually need not be applied until after
the leaves are well formed. After irrigation begins, then water is usually needed
6
quite regularly until the crop is grown.
In the case of potatoes, if the subsoil contains adequate water at
planting time, then the first irrigation is usually required after blooming time
and after the new crop is well along. Once irrigation is started then it must
continue in order to keep the crop growing, to avoid the production of "knots".
In the case of corn one or two irrigations after the corn is in
"the silk" may be required.
For these , and similar crops the water user requires late season water.
Use of Ground Water For Irrigation
Extensive use has been made of ground water for irrigation in the west.
In fact, there was a time when irrigation from ground water exceeded that of
gravity streams. (Idaho was probably an exception). For example, during the
early part of the twentieth century, from 1900 to about 1930 the area where
Las Vegas, Nevada is now located, was developed first as a farming area, irrigated
entirely by ground water, mostly flowing wells . At first there were deep springs.
The one shown furnished water, first for Stewart Ranch. (In 1900 to 1909 this
was the only habitation in that part of the valley). Then other deep springs flowed
a small stream. Mostly banks had grown higher and higher as winds brought in
sand and dust to be deposited around the moist rim .
Later, deep wells were drilled and the water developed was used in
crop production. This continued until the thirties when Hoover Dam was built.
In California much land was irrigated from wells. In fact pumps were
very common for a long time. They were finally dropped deeper and deeper until
they began delivering salt water because the ground water level had dropped
below sea level.
In Utah, much development was made in the early part of the twentieth
century, by the utilization of ground water for irrigation. The first wells were
near Cedar City. Then development was carried on at New Castle, below Enterprise.
There, great success followed and "Zuckerman Brothers" finally placed thousands
of acres in crops under the pump. (They had one well that delivered 1700 gallons
per minute, or nearly four cubic feet per second. One cubic foot per second is
7
sufficient water for one hundred acres.) They also developed the largest potato
farm in the world.
This well development continued on down to Beryl, then to Milford.
At the same time flowing wells were drilled in an area later called Welton,
a few miles below Filmore. (These were pumped later . ) A few wells were success­fully
drilled at Delta and vicinity . The flowing wells became clogged by sand
and were cleaned out with compressed air.
Other pump wells were made in northern Utah, that have continued to
operate through the years .
In Colorado, Kansas , and other prairie states, ground water was
developed for maturing crops on marginal lands, that would seldom mature a crop
without supplemental irrigation. Developmen t of ground water in these areas was
considered to be quite s uccessful. They used previously perforated screens
and dug shallow wells chiefly, by hand.
Shoal Creek
An effort was successfully made to place Shoal Creek in the north
western corner of Washington County , Utah, under complete control, and do so
without "borrowing". The plan was to have local water users and beneficiaries
do all the work and bear all the expense.
Commencing in 1891 a dam and reservoir near the head of the south
branch was begun. This was continued through the years, a little at a time
until 1912 when it was completed . (The masonry arch was completed in 1892)
But the plan, prepared by Isaac Macfarlane of St. George , indicated that there
should be a heavy embankment of dirt above the masonry arch, and that the earth
should be faced , up stream, by a heavy rip rap of loose rock. This part was
finished in 1912. After tha t the au thor "took over".
Much water had been lost at and above the old diversion works where
only a wide wash of gravel and sand is situated. In 1916 this diversion was
made up stream about three miles, below a spot Where a small lake had formerly
been, and just above where the overflow was lost in a sand wash. (See picture)
8
An excavation about twenty feet deep was made, then filled with clay. (Over
one second foot of water was recovered from the sand.) The entire structure
served as the new diversion. It was constructed by the water users who came out
with teams, scrapers, and wagons with dump boards to do the work . (The canal is
in clay most of the way from that point on.)
The first reservoir on the south fork of Shoal Creek, was not large
enough to hold all of the flood water, therefore a second one, lower down and
below another watershed, was designed and laid out. The author drew the plans,
prepared them for signature of the president of the company and followed them
through the State Engineer's Office.) The water users made the final addition
in height, (fourteen feet) after the engineer had shown them how to build with
rock for forms, and how the interior might be filled with rock, using only
enough good concrete to cover the rock. (He did not supervise final construction)
All the water coming from the second watershed is diverted through a
tunnel , into the upper storage reservoir. The lower one is filled from the
overflow. (These two reservoirs serve a good purpose in water conservation -
they also make most excellent fish ponds. They have cold spring water coming
in. Both are provided with cutoff walls at the outlet to prevent the last six
feet of water from being drained out. Some times, during a good season water
is held over by thrifty water users.)
On the west branch of Shoal Creek is a rather large water-shed that
extends west to the Nevada line, and into the rough terrain to the south-west.
Another watershed covers the hills to the south of Enterprise. But these two
sources of water contribute streams only at long intervals.
To take care of extra flood water the dry wash that extends north of
Enterprise was worked on about 1951 by the State Roads and by Iron County.
(A road was being built to certain points in Iron County that was open to floods
from Shoal Creek) To eliminate the flood hazard to the new road a plug in the
channel was made. (This was carried high enough to divert the entire flood stream)
A diversion channel and dike was also built .
9
Through the dike at intervals of about six hundred feet, slots about
four inches wide were made of concrete through the dike, or bank of the flood
channel . Below each slot high dikes were built and channels, parallel to the
main flow in the new diversion were made about one hundred feet each way.
(This was to avoid the cutting of deep gullies below each slot.)
The slots were made to provide for automatic delivery of water to a
strip of sage brush and grass range land about one Bnd one half mile wide. The
surplus water from these lands would go to build up the water table for pump
wells near by.
In addit ion to the solid plug across the sand wash, it was necessary
to strengthen weak places in the east bank of the channel for about one mile up
along the Zuckerman property_ (The diversion channel is on the west s i de.)
Need For Cooperation In Buil ding Headworks and Canals
There was found to be great need for cooperative effort in building
canals and headworks for them. For example , in the Rancagua Valley , near
San tiago, Chile, South America, there is a spot where nine canals have their
headworks near the same place. The canals run for at least two miles across a
gravel bar where much of the water diverted into them is lost. (There are nine
canals running side by side , some of them for at least 40 miles.) The headworks
and main canals were des i gned by an engi neering firm from eastern United States
of America .
When asked , one of the officials of the canals said: "Why we could not
j oi n with any of the upper users they woul d get all of the water and we wo uld
get none at low water time. Facts are they did not have a word for "cooperation"
and the term had no meaning for them.
(There was work to do for the United States' Engineering firm but they
di d not do it . )
The same situation was found in Iran. There, it is the rule to maintain
a separate canal for each village, even though it means nine to twelve canals
taking out from a stream above a single dam. (It is the custom for an entire
10
village to be owned and controlled by a single landlord). Often there is not room
between canals for the sediment that must be cleaned from them. The inevitable
result is that year after year the space between canals is piled higher and higher.
It is common to see as many as six men with shovels , passing the canal sediment
from one to another, to the top of the narrow ridge between canals.
Lack of cooperation is not limited to foreign countries . In Montana,
at or near East Helena, there is a place where as many as fourteen ditches run
near each other across a strip of open prairie land. Each ditch runs to an
individual farm . This lack of coordination, and tremendous loss of water,
"harks" back to mining days when each development had its independent ditch for
hydraulic slucing in the process of gold collection.
Where there is no cooperation the first users on a stream get more than
their proportion of water. This was the case on Zyende Rud (River) in Iran when
the supply fell low. But, the Director General from the United States of America ,
who had full responsibility stepped in, saved the water that was being wasted
above, and took it to all users below . He saved their crops and averted a famine.
After viewing , personally, the condition of crops in the lower valley,
and after seeing the immense waste of water above , he had the heads of villages
below and above cal l ed together by the Governor General and from them received
consent for complete control of the stream for a period of two weeks. Nature
was also kind for it stormed on the watershed.
The Director General did not need this consent, for he had full authority
to take complete control of the river; but he preferred to have all water users
with him.
Everybody , down to the last water user, received water for a complete
irrigation, and all crops were saved.
At times like this, drastic action must be taken in order to get results.
Early Experience With Floods
As early as 1901 it was observed that in desert country floods flow
down ridges rather than down depressions .
11
Our engineering party, was out on location of an extension to the
Union Pacific Railroad . We had selected a spot in California that seemed to
be good for a camp. It was high, dry. and had a coating of clean gravel underneath.
The first day out a heavy thunder storm passed over. We returned to
camp in the evening to find that a flood had swept by, and only a part of one
tent was left standing. (The cook had managed to save the portion over his hot
cook stove.) The others and our beds were picked up as far as one to two miles
below. After that we always chose low spots, protected from mountain floods, for
camp sites, for we learned that in desert country floods flow down ridges rather
than down depressions.
Torrential Floods
From time immorial torrential floods have occured. This is particularly
evident below the mouth of canyons in mountain areas, where huge fans have been
buil t and where there is evidence of repeated "mud flows" that have occured
during the ages, while mountain canyons have been cu~, deeper and deeper.
Even since the recent time, geologically , when Lake Bonneville went
out , there is much evidence of "mud flows" at the mouths of canyons. A most
striking example is that of Little Cottonwood Canyon, where, below the mouth
of the canyon , the channel has cut away a large part of t he gravel and sand that
deposited as an alluvial fan or delta, when Lake Bonneville occupied the area.
At the first level up from t he present river channel many ribs of boulders and
dirt were observed in 1957. willow Creek Country Club was then being started.
These ribs were thick (everyone hundred feet at least) across a river bottom
area a mile wide, distributed over what was then an alternate oak brush and rock
and old mud flow flat. The builders of the new country club had only to rake the
boulders out of the remnants of mud flows to find wonderful mountain loam to use
as a base for the new golf greens. They now have an eighteen hole golf course
and had only to add surface soil from near by to make greens as fine as can be
found. The mountain loam. brought down in "mud flow" is chiefly responsible.
12
Flood At Spring City in 1917 - (Consolidation)
In 1917 a torrential storm struck the watershed above Spring City.
It was followed by a terrific flood down the canyon. Huge boulders were carried
long distances . The head works of canal systems were destroyed. But out of it
came one good result . Consolidation. Formerly there were four independent di tches.
Now there is but one irrigation system . The water rights in the four ditches
were "pooled" and new stock was issued that covers all. Each water user drew
out of the consolidation , stock equivelent to the shares he had turned in. Now
each user draws water in proportion to the stock he holds.
Consol idation at Daniel
In 1922 consolidation of three companies and one independent di tch
was made at Daniel. Users turned out and repaired a high water reservoir dam
in Strawberry area that had been carelessly built. They made a second dam and
reservoir and repaired a tunnel leading through the divide. They also put water
in their homes from a spring nearby.
Since 1922, they have prospered. Other improvements such as sidewalks
for the town, a new meeting house and a new school house have been made.
Jetties
It was found in 1929 that jetties placed perpendicular to the stream
has the desired result of holding the flow to a course between the ends of them.
This was observed on the lower Missouri River and immediately below on the
Mississippi River. In both cases it was necessary that the stream, which carried
a high percentage of silt, be held to a centralized course for the sake of making
navigation possible. This observation was made while on a trip down to the mouth
of the Mississippi and back on a government boat , with army engineers.
The jetties were lines of piling to which cross poles were attached
to break the current and cause a deposit of silt.
Jetties on Santa Clara Creek
In 1932 a study was made of flood action on Santa Clara Creek where
en t ire farms had been washed away, and others, even on high banks were being
13
badly damaged.
In 1933, when a C C C Camp was established jus t above St. George, the
first job outlined by the author for them was t hat of placing the Lower Santa
Clara Creek under control.
A channel through the area was outlined, and jetties perpendicular to
it were laid out. Bulldozers were used to mark the channel through the brush
and to doze out trenches for jetties about every two hundred to five hundred
feet. In these strips that were about two feet deep, rolls of combination fence
wire were unrolled. On the wi re , l ava rock from an abundant supply nearby , were
placed i n r i cks, about the hei ght estimated for maximum flow of high water, or a
little under this level. Then more fence wire was unrolled. The joints were
fastened by number six telephone wire.
These jetties have worked. Silt has been deposited between them.
This soil produced grass, trees , forests of black willow, and brush. In many
cases farms were recovered .
Jetties On Provo River
In 1950 a new highway was being built south, up along Provo River from
Hailstone on Highway 50. A channel change was made about half way to Francis.
But high water in 1950 refused to follow the new channel . It jumped the bank
at the first turn , and followed down its ol d course, tak ing out over a mile of
the new highway and gouging out a deep gorge. Five engineers from the Salt Lake
office were called out. But they did nothing effective . They put several
trucks at work hauling rock and dumping them into the stream, but they were
washed down as fast as they were dumped . Finally the job was turned over to
the author and his aides who placed the flood back in its new channel with
one jetty built perpendicular to the road . First a large shovel was obtained
to load large rock, and three trucks were made available for hauling them.
Five loads of these large rock were dumped on the new highway just
below where the stream had jumped its bank. A 0-8 Cat . then pushed the rocks
into the flood stream. More rock were added until the stream was pushed back
14
into its channel. The jetty was not left until it had been raised so high that
it was safe against further floods .
It was necessary to carry one end of the jetty upstream near the new
road until high ground was reached.
The job described only required about six hours. But more jetties
were built during the next few days. These were located about every three
hundred feet, and were carried far enough down the river so that there was no
further danger of overflow.
Weber River Jetties
In 1952 Weber River went out of control because of flood. It jumped
out of a new channel and flowed down highway U.S. 30, damaging it for over a mile.
Even the Un ion Pacific Railroad was threatened and the officials were
very much alarmed. At the author's request, a train load of large rock was
brought in. They were used to good advantage in holding down large poplar trees
that were anchored perpendicular to the stream. Over them strong jetties were
built and the flood stream was finally forced back into its new channel. A
gravel and rock pit was opened nearby and many trucks and a large shovel raised
the jetties to their present height.
Terracing
Over a large part of the prairie states , and extending on into eastern
United States, terrac ing of farm lands in 1934, 1935 and after, became a common
pract i ce . For this an elevating grader threw up dikes along the contours of each
farm every thirty to one hundred fifty feet, depending upon steepness of slope.
This was to catch, and make use of all moisture that should come, and to prevent
"runoff" and erosion.
In order to provide for passing surplus water from one level to another
a series of rock-concrete drops was installed. These have proved to be quite
satisfactory .
Pomerene - Arizona
A splendid example of headward erosion from down stream, is found at
15
Pomerene, Arizona, where, about 19 20 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built a
diversion dam for Benson and Pomerene lands, on the San Pedro River channel.
The San Pedro rises in Mexico, and flows north. It is usually very small, less
than ten second feet, but it becomes a raging torrent at flood time.
This diversion dam failed, due to headward erosion from down stream and
a high flood. (The building of this dam caused a change in the streams gradient,
or slope. In adjusting to the new gradient, the channel downstream cut rather
heavily (about six feet). When this occured the structure failed.
It was replaced by a structure built by water users of Pomerene in 1923
when the Mormon Church came to the rescue and provided money enough to buy cement
and other items requiring cash. The Church asked the author to take charge.
The new dam was located about one mile upstream from the one that had
failed . It was made of stone fixed by concre te, and had an apron down stream with a
cutoff wall at the lower edge about six feet deep. The water users of Pomerene were
told that they would have to build a second apron about four feet, at least , below
t he first one. This was also reported to the Church , and i t was advised that a
dragline would be needed for the second apron. (This was procured during the
next few months and it was delivered to Pomerene direct . )
The next year the second apron was built. The east wing wall had been
built in loose sand. A leak at flood time caused the back fill to wash out and
damage the wing. The crest of the main structure was extended thirty feet.
This placed the east wing wall in firm ground and provided more capacity. The
new apron downstream was built as planned. As far as is known this diversion
dam has continued to operate.
Structures
A system of construction was worked out by which reservoir dams, diversion
works, controls, gate installations etc, have been constructed, in such a manner
as to effect great economy, so much in fact that water users have been able to
build the i r own, without going into debt. In each case materials available
have been use~, rather than to remove good material to make room for that which is
16
inferior. Reference is made in particular to the use of boulders that have with­stood
t he wearing effect, the abrasion sustained, through being rolled and tumbled
abou t in passing down a stream bed from a source high in the mountains to the mouths
of canyons, as compared to the use of reinforced concrete. It has been found that
channels lined with such boulders are virtually everlasting, whereas channels
that are lined with concrete may wear through, even in two years. Likewise, gate
and spill way structures that are subject to the wearing effect of flood streams
that carry sand and gravel may have large holes worn through spill crests or
apron floors, within as little as two years. If the struc t ure i s built of boulders
set in concrete with only boulder surfaces exposed, the structures last
indefinitely. Likewise retaining walls bUklt of boulders are superior to concrete.
For example a retaining wall (a wing wall) thirty feet high and sixty feet long
was built of boulders set in concrete. (The base of this wall is four feet thick.)
The wall was drawn in immediately above the base to only thirty inches in thickness.
It was tapered to twenty-four inches on top, at a heigh t of thirty feet. This
wall, about fifty days later, was backfilled to the top surface on the back s i de
and to about nine feet qf the top on the other side. (The lower portion had been
filled by the flood stream.) This wall is above the Kennecott Garfield Smelter,
twenty-two miles west of Salt Lake City .
A similar wall, with exactly t he same dimentions, was built at the intake
to Bear River Migratory Water Fowl Refuge, sixteen miles south-west of Brigham City.
Only the best of water washed agregates were used. (There are none better,
Brigham City agregates were used) The wall was heavily reinforced with steel
and left to cure fifty days before being back-filled. It was then back-filled
by dragline in the same way that the rubble wall had been filled with silt out
of the river.
The concrete wall broke in three places. It was pulled back by
turn- buckles on cables, attached to "dead men". The wall made of rubble in
concrete did not break nor was it pushed out of line by the back-filling.
Both wallS, built in 19 28 , are in operation in 1963.
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Back-Fill ing
Even in the installation of wooden headgates or turnou t gates, back­filling
was found to be a very important operation. For example, in 1921 the
East Millard Canal was new. It had never carried a large stream of water.
Word was received that the diversion dam was complete and that a full
canal would follow immediately. Three men from Australia were here from World War
One . They had been sent to Utah for practical experience in irrigation. The canal
was temporarily being operated under the immediate direction of the engineer to whom
these men were assigned. He was irrigation specialist in Utah on a cooperative
basis between Utah and U.S . D.A) He had received word that a large head of water
was coming . He rounded up the Australians, started his car and said; "You men
have come for experience in irrigation . We will get it now. Our first job is at
the intake of a lateral system . There is no time to waste. Up this canal about
seven or eight miles a wooden turnout gate was installed some time ago, and it
will wash out unless steps are taken at once to correct an error. We can save
it if we hurry. Get your clothes off for you will need to jump in beside the
gate while I procure empty grain sacks for holding sand and soil" They were
all "good sports" and readily stripped to their shorts.
When the engineer returned from a ranch nearby with the empty bags,
the water had arrived and the Austrailians were filling the breach where soil
had settled. They were "clawing" dirt to keep water from running over. One
of them came to shovel soil and sand into the bags. The structure was saved.
The engineer knew that the wooden turnout gate had been installed without
having been "puddled". That the backfill had been tamped, but that the material
would settle still more when encountered by water, and that it would go out unless
it were "puddled" in .
This principle is important , and must be applied in every case where
back-filling of loosened material is made .
Compaction Of Back-Fill With Water Essential
In another instance, this same engineer was called in to ascertain
18
whether or not sand, gravel and soil that had been filled in where a concrete
floor was to be laid in a Governmental Hospital had been properly compacted. He
found the contractors' men attempting to compact soil, sand and gravel with an
electric vibrator tamper . He knew that such material could not be fully compacted
by tamping. He so reported to the governmental inspector, and advised that water
be used. The contractor was notified by the inspector that if settlement and
cracking of the floor should occur, it would be required that the new concrete be
removed, and the material beneath the floor be properly settled before a new
floor should be laid.
The contractor indicated that he was following directions in the
"handbook". He proceeded to lay the floor but it settled, cracked, and he was
required to take it out. This time he compacted the sub base with water as
he had been advised to do fonnerly. (Subsequently he added several yards of
additional fill material to bring the subsurface up to grade).
In anot her case a heavy wall was being moved . The contractor
attempted to level the new setting with sand tamped in with an elec tric vibrator.
But the wall settled two inches when the rains came. Fortunately i t had been
under-pinned with a heavy strip of reinforced concrete and it did not crack,
but settled evenly.
In another instance, five large culverts were built beneath a state
highway between Minersville and Milford. These culverts were hand made with
rubble in concrete and are five feet wide and eight feet high. The hard surfaced
highway was cut for the installation, and detours were constructed for traff ic.
When the culverts were finished, eighteen hundred gallons of water was
used for each culvert as back filling by bulldozer proceeded. In order that
very little water should be wasted, earthen dams were built at both ends of the
culverts, on either side. Rocks, gravel, sand and dirt , taken out as the
excavation was made, was dozed back in as back fill . This crowded the water up.
When filling was complete, the surplus water was wasted . Traffic was resumed
in two days , and no further settlement occured.
19
This is contrary to normal proceedures. Always there is settling.
However small the culvert, compaction is never complete until after a second
filling. Then it is filled again and there is usually a bump left. It remains
a bump until the area is resurfaced.
The answer is: settle new fill with water rather than with any kind
of tamping.
Rubble Masonry
At the mouth of every canyon deposits of boulders are made larger
each spring by high water. Diversion dams for irrigation canals are usually
temporary, being composed of brush, rocks, straw and coarse manure as a rule.
These temporary structures fail when runoff is high, and require re-building .
Sometimes the structure is masonry, the better ones having been made of concrete .
Improved structures are made of boulders from the stream-bed, set in
concrete, in such a manner as to leave only the rock surface exposed to wear.
Structures built in this way twenty to thirty years ago, have shown
no sign of deteriation. They give evidence of being ever-lasting.
Sometimes it has been possible to move the "head works" down stream.
This has called for a high structure, but the canal or canals are shortened by
the amount of the move . In these cases - the basins thus formed have served as
"stilling pools" to catch, and hold back, silt, sand, gravel, rock, and floating
debris at flood time , and have saved the irrigators much labor in canal and ditch
cleaning. Always, however, the operators have the problem of "headward erosion".
This can be handled by building an apron, or aprons at sufficiently low elevations
to take care of erosion when i t comes. Sometimes it has been necessary to build
a second apron at six or more feet lower than the first to take care of the new
downstream gradient until permanent slopes have been established.
In building these structures where the banks are solid, the shape
of the new structure is "cut out" to form. In this case, only one thickness of rock
is necessary. Concrete is spaded between the bank and the rock or layer of boulders .
These are placed on edge , rather than flat as the "stone mason" places them. They
are set with the thick end out , the highes t point of t he large end on line, t he
20
long axis being pointed inward and downward, and each boulder resting in the
saddle between two boulders already in place. No forming is required.
In situations where there is no bank to build against, the side walls
are made double. In such cases the best shaped boulders are used on exposed
surfaces. Concrete is spaded between rows of boulders , layer by layer . All
voids are filled.
These structures are begun by bu ilding a cutoff wall downstream six
or more feet deep. Then the floor i s laid by covering the excavated area a foot
or so at a t ime with concrete four to s ix inches deep. Into the new concrete,
boulders are placed with the thick ends up, the points down , the long axis
being pointed downward, and slping backward . Each boulder is placed on edge
and is made to fit into a "saddle" formed by two boulders already in place.
In this way boulders in the floor are made to lay "shingle fashion". No concrete
remains exposed . But the lower end of each boulder is embedded in concrete , and
concre te is spaded between boulders until all voids are filled.
The side walls, or wing walls are blended into the floor and apron so that
there is no space to mark the ending of one or the beginning of the other.
Once again , the structure begins with the downstream cutoff wall, then
the apron , then the floor, t hen the side walls and t he wing walls. When built in
this way the struc t ure is vir t ually ever-lasting, provided that care ,be used to
avoid destruct ion from downstream by "headward erosion".
Early Experience in Gravel and Sand Control
In 1921 a request for help came from Nephi. High water was flowing
from Salt Creek, back of Mount Nebo , and from other minor sources. But the stream
carried excessive volumes of sand and gravel, that had to be moved before the
water could be used. (It was necessary that the water be used when it was high,
for it dropped very low afterwards).
As the stream crossed through town great, high banks, of sand and gravel
were made. (When the request was received these banks, raised by team and tongue
sc"raper, had reached the height of ten and twelve feet, and were growing higher)"
21
At Manti a diversion dam started in 1891 had reached a height of over
twenty five feet, and it had stopped all sand, gravel, flood rocks, and floating
flood debris. This was used as an example of what could be done. Accordingly a
dike fifteen hundred feet long was laid out across the creek east of Mount Nebo.
(Purposly a section of channel was chosen where the stream could spread) . The
dike was built by team and scraper . For a spillway dry pine logs were laid across
the channel. On these were placed juniper posts. The structure was raised, layer
upon layer until a crest height of about five feet was reached. Timber cribs for
wings were filled with rocks and these were "puddled" into the dikes on either
side in such a way as to make them leak proof. The juniper posts were also
puddled at the top ends, into an earthen fill so that the stream was forced to
flow over. rather than around the structure.
A similar barrier and spillway was built below the forks of the stream
at the south side of Mount Nebo. And a temporary check was made east of Nephi.
The last structure was built to catch the gravel and sand already in the channel.
About this time the state constructed the first concrete surfaced road
north from Nephi toward Salt Lake Ci ty. All of the sand and gravel scraped from
the stream at Nephi was used.
(In 1939 the author was approached by a citizen of Nephi, who said: "Will
you please let a little sand and gravel down to us? We have runtentirely out:) .
Other similar structures were built at Kanosh, on Corn Creek, at Filmore
on Chalk Creek, and elsewhere .
The Barrier System
Above each spill crest there must be provision for a "stilling pool"
where the flood stream will be slowed down to drop its load. (The larger t he
pool the better.)
The heavy material carried by the flood will drop as it approaches the
pool. Only fine sand and silt will be pushed out into quiet water. Rocks and
gravel build up a fan above the stilling pool. (The s urface of this fan i s not
level, but has a slope.) If the barrier is long t he floating debris finds lodgement
on either side of the spillway and may be removed by burning after the flood stream
22
has passed, and t he debris has become sufficiently dry.
The ultimate height of the spill crest may be estimated by making the
design on "the ground". It will vary with conditions. But it must be planned
for raising and must have adequate thickness of base for the additional height
of crest required later . The principle factor to consider in design is slope.
Barrier System at Kennecott's Garfield Smelter
In one case a barrier was built where the slope is twelve and one half
feet per one hundred feet . At number six structure, Kennecott Garfield Smelter,
the main flood control barrier was built in 1927 with its crest eighty three feet
above stream-bed. The second crest level built in 1928 was one hundred feet up.
The final crest built in 1938 is one hundred fourteen feet above stream-bed.
(Provision is made for going still higher if necessary. The need for additional
height depends upon the flood situation.) Naturally the barrier must be raised
far enough above the crest so that there shall always be adequate "free-board"
above the level of flood streams.
In the case in question t he barrier was built with a five cubic yard
bucket, running on a cable six hundred feet long, and operated by an engine and
winch under a fifty foot tower. mounted over movable rails twenty four feet apart.
This structure is t he principle one of three barriers located above
the Kennecott Smelter twenty two miles west of Salt Lake City. One of these
barriers is high above and one part way up the slope. seven other structures
serve only as drops to pass the flood water to lower levels.
Barrier At Farmington
A barrier at the north end of Farmington in Davis County. was built in
1924 by the people of Farmington, working under direction of the author who was
irrigation specialist for Utah. The barrier was made of soil , sand and gravel
hauled in by team and wagon (with "dump boards") from a pit nearby. These teams
were furnished and driven by citizens of Farmington. The sp il lway was built out
of flood boulders, with i ts crest six feet high at first. This was raised about
23
eighteen inches at a time each year. un t il it reached a final height of thirty
four feet. Cement for this structure was furnished by Ut ah Stat e Road Commission.
(The barrier protects the old state highway from inundation.) Aggregates were
procured from the basin above.
(In 1954 the State built an "overpass" nearby. and a new state highway
through Davis County. Materials stored above the spillway were used for building
the fills and the "overpass".)
Barrier at Willard
On August 13, 1923 a flood struck Willard that made three paths through
the town . Along each path orchards and homes were destroyed. On the north path
there was a huge flow of mud and rocks that left a great scar where homes and
orchards had been . On this strip covered only with large rocks, mud and boulders
after the flood, a barrier basin was built . Boxelder County and the State Land
Board bought the strip east of the highway and made it available as a site for
flood control.
I t was necessary to build a dike on the north. on the south and along
the east border of the highway to make the basin. (The distance to high ground
on the east i s about seventeen hundred feet.)
In 1924 a crude spillway was built in the north west corner. where a
drop of about ten feet was made to reach bottom of a new channel under the highway
bridge. This temporary spillway and drop was constructed out of large rocks from
the flood deposit. (No concrete was used in 1924). The next year, after spring
high water was over , this temporary structure was made permanent by building on it
the spillway as it now stands out of flood rocks and large boulders cemented into
place. The concrete was added as the spillway was bu i lt, layer upon layer.
This spillway was continued upward year after year for three years,
until it had gained its present height of twenty four feet from the channel
under the bridge to the spill crest .
The banks along the highway and on either side were raised during
spring high water. The gravel laden stream was held close to the outside of the
24
basin by placing orchard trimmings in a continuous "rick" around the basin, and
by the use of one fourth inch mesh wire from "war surplus" sources. Then teams
on tongue scrapers were used to build up the outer bank. The teams and drivers
were furnished by Willard (volunteer labor). To aid in controlling the high
water stream, cross jetties of tree limbs were built in such a manner that part
or all of the stream could be carried to south or north at will.
After several years of automatic operation, when absolutely no upkeep
was given, another large summer flood came , and part of it ran over the south
bank. A considerable amount of volunteer brush and trees had grown on the
interior of the basin.
More trees and brush were planted to channelize the stream. (I do
not know who did the planting.) A huge "nick" was but in the spillway to make
sure that another flood stream should not go over the banks.
In 1954, the same engineer who planned the works in the beginning, was
in the maintenance division of the state highways. He repaired the breach in
the spillway , dozed out the plantings, made by someone, and the volunteer brush
and timber that had grown up. He raised the outer banks and left the basin open.
Nothing further has been reported.
Drop Inlets In Southern Utah
While with the Utah State Road Commission, many drop inlets were built
into culverts, to aid in the passing of flood streams under rather than over the
roads. In many cases the drops were built in connection with barriers. (Barriers
serve to slow down the flood and make it drop its debris). It was observed that
debris rather than flood- water causes most of the damage.
The first, and most extensive application of the barrier- drop inlet
system, was developed in Iron County, then in Beaver County, then Washington
County, then in Millard County.
In the area north of Cedar City is a stream called Fiddlers Creek.
It comes from the high mountain area east of Cedar City. In 1946 a heavy flood
brought down an immense deposit of mud, boulders, and rocks, landing them across
25
and below Highway 91. A huge collection of tumble weeds along a wire fence east
of t he road caused the flood mass to build up to the very top of this fence on
the north side without leaving a trace of flood debris on the south.
A barrier: basin and spillway with a drop into a large culvert
beneath it was built . In addition a reservoir was constructed on the west side
of the highway, for containing the flood water after the flood debris was dropped
out . Furthermore a barrier and splitter for dividing the flood stream was built
about one and one half miles east .
Kanarrah
A former race track north of Kanarrah was converted into a barrier basin
and a sp illway was built out of black lava rock. These were water rounded boulders
and were hauled in from Washington County.
The barrier is on Kanarrah Creek that comes from the high mountains on
the east and flows either to north into Shirts Lake or south into Ash Creek. (It
strikes the very top of the rim of the Great Basin. The stream may go north, or
it may go south.)
This structure with its drop, operated in 1946 and in 1947 but has been
comparatively idle ever since. The spill channel leading to the bridge is about
one hundred feet long. It runs on a diagonal to the bridge . The spillway is
buil t on the east s ide of t he north and south right of way.
A heavy flood in 1946 brought down a great collection of dead quaking
aspen timber that lodged and clogged the bridge beneath the highway.
At the south endo-f Kanarrsh abarrier-drop-inlet spillway and a culvert
five feet wide and eight feet deep was made. The barrier was built with dirt
from within the basin. The spillway and culvert was made of boulders held in
place by concrete. They were hauled in from WaShington County nearby.
Minersville - Milford Highway
Reference has already been made to five large culverts built across
the highway between Minersville and Milford.
These replaced twenty four, two foot culverts that had been completely
26
filled with sand, gravel and other flood debris from the foothill area on the
north, under the Beaver Mountains.
These five culverts were located at suitable spots where water from
them could enter a large canal fUrther down a gentle slope. This canal runs
more or less parallel to the highway.
In order to catch all the flood water that would come down from the
north, a continuous barrier was built from a location near Minersville on the
south and continuing northerly more than ten miles to the vicinity of Milford.
This dike is about six feet high. Above each of the five large culverts is a
drop inlet through the barrier . Part of the flood water may go on north past each
culvert, if there should be a surplus. (There is a light gradient to the north
toward Milford.)
When examined in 1958, culverts were clean and the barrier above was
in perfect shape for operation.
Skull-Rock Pass
About fifty miles west of Del ta is a low pass known as "Skull-rock".
(There is a large rock standing out , alone, that looks like a huge human skull.)
On this pass and on west to the Nevada line, considerable work was done about 1954.
A series of floods had clogged culverts and had gone over the new highway,
inflicting considerable damage, to the down stream shoulder in particular.
The "Barrier System" was used extensively. In each case the spillway
was made as a "Drop Inlet" so as to pass the flood water under the road. In some
cases the road fill was sufficiently high to serve as a barrier, in which event
no further barrier was built. But in every case a drop inlet was made to hold
the flood-stream back while it dropped its load of heavy debris, and while the
weeds and brush brought down by the flood was dropped. Also to pass relatively
clear water under the road.
In some cases on top of the pass the flood streams came in over a
broad expanse of territory and went over the highway at random, between culverts.
In these cases ditches with dikes on the lower sides were built, to collect the
27
streams and guide the floods to culverts already in place under the new highway.
In no case was it considered to be necessary to install a new, or a larger
culvert. In some instances the channels are as long as half a mile.
In one situation, on the western slope of the "pass" a dike was built
about six feet high and about seven hundred feet long below a water-shed, in order
to check the flood stream and make it drop its burden of flood debris, before
running on for over one half mile to a large culvert. This dike contained a
considerable amount of white, chalky, powdery material that gave way when the
next flood came. The holes that were blown out, were filled later on and repair
was made with better material from further away. This time the dike held.
Drops Above Bridges
In Salina Canyon a barrier was built above a bridge and a drop was made
as a part of the sp illway through the barrier . This was done in 1933, and it has
worked with satisfaction ever since. In the same year a barrier was built above
a bridge on Haights Creek in Davis County . This has been quite satisfactory.
Bridge at Vernal Across Ashley Creek
In 1948 a new concrete bridge, with a span of seventy two feet, was
built across Ashley Creek on highway U 44 leading north to Daggett County. When
built the bridge had a clearance of ten feet. But during spring high-water in
1949 i t was completely filled by boulders, and the final flood stream ran across
the road.
Late in 1949 steps were taken to prepare this bridge for spring high­water
in 1950. A dragline was placed down stream twelve hundred feet. When
excavation reached the bridge, the new channel was over ten feet deep.
A cable was attached to the drag-line bucket. This cable was ultimately
worked under the bridge and attached to a small tractor on the other side. The
tractor pulled the bucket in. It was loaded, at first by hand. Ultimately a
hole large enough for a 0-8 catipillar tractor was worked through. The large
tractor, working with the dragline, opened a channel eighty feet up stream from the
bridge, leaving a vertical bank in the frozen mass of boulders. (It was cold
28
when this stage was reached.)
In order to provide for holding the boulders upstream, when the floods
should come, large trees from nearby were dozed down and in. These were worked
into single sections and limbs by ax and by saw and were placed by man power
aided by bulldozer and dragline, into a semi-circular crib under the high bank.
A shoulder was added to the highway. It was widened and the dikes were
extended upstream to high ground. (These side dikes are about two thousand feet
apart.) Thus adequate space for storing of boulders and other flood debris
carried by Ashley Creek was provided.
No attempt was made at first to build a permanent structure at the
spillway. It could have been done but the protection against freezing was not
considered to be economical.
Some holes were left in the cribbing . These were filled by dozing in
Squaw bush from a large supply nearby. Filling was made complete after the
high-water flood stream began.
Care was used by the bulldozer operator who brought the squaw brush
in, to avoid turning them over. The great mass of roots were left down . These
plugged the openings in the crib-work and made the structure tight.
When the flood stream dropped, a permanent spillway was built without
disturbing the crib work already in place. A one cubic yard mixer was used. Into
it was mixed the best grade of concrete we knew how to mix. Into this all the
boulders were added that could be coated. The mass was then spread over the crest
and down the slopes of the spillway. The mixture was handled dry as possible,
not only for desired strength but also that it would cover the steep slope of
the spillway, and would stay "put" where placed.
At the base of the spillway , a deep hole had been washed out by the
1950 floodwater. This was filled with boulders from under the bridge. These were
covered with the mixture of boulders in concrete.
It has been stated that the spill crest is semi-circular in form. It
was and is about 100 feet in length.
29
Wing walls to the desired heigh t were built by placing boulders from
the basin and from the large piles made by drag-line, in the manner already
described for masonry of this type.
The floor or apron of the spillway was extended all the way under the
bridge and on down about eight feet to the end of the wingwalls where a deep
cutoff wall was built. Then i t was extended about six feet further and up the
sides as high as the downstream wings to avoid cutting around t he downstream
wings of the bridge. To date the entire job has worked satisfactorily. The
bridge is clean underneath and the channel downstream is open. All rocks,
boulders, gravel. sand and flood debris have been caught and held above the
barrier and spillway.
Loss of Head at Intake of Culvert Corrected
It was observed that a large culvert. carrying high-water to lands
below the bridge at Vernal was super full at the upper end and was only eighty
per cent full at the outlet. This was corrected by cutting a slit about
eighteen inches long at the upper end, then by lifting the two wings of the "slit"
high enough so that they would stand.
There is a tendency for "vacuum" to form immediately below the intake
to a culvert . This causes a loss of "head" and the culvert cannot flow entirely
full. This vacuum can be relieved in various ways. It has been overcome by
welding in a small pipe through which air may flow to relieve the vacuum .
This has been successfully done on a county installation near Preston , Idaho,
where a culvert of limited size was already available, where a high road fill
had washed out and needed to be replaced at once. It was also required that
the culvert when re-installed be made to operate at full capacity. An eight
inch pipe was available. This was used. It was welded in on a slope at the
upper edge of the intake. The culvert now continues to operate. The eight inch
pipe takes in air and water and the culvert flows full at the lower end. (The
eight inch pipe was cut off even with the upper end of the culvert.)
Near Black Lake in Quebec, Canada a large culvert through what was to
30
be a high dam, was found to flow only about eighty percent full at the lower end.
It was made to flow full by installing a small pipe at the intake in the same
way as that described for Preston, Idaho. The pipe is four inches in diameter.
Willow Creek Country Club - More About Culverts
At the new country club south of Salt Lake City (the willow Creek),
near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon a rubble lined canal carries Little
Cottonwood by a long stretch of dry wash where the stream, at very low water,
was lost. In making driveways along this canal it was found to be necessary to
"cut" the canal in two places. There thirty six inch standard corrugated culverts
were installed. But, the irrigators below objected on the grounds that the pipes
were not large enough. They proposed that the culverts be replaced by multiplate
arches. This would have meant a great loss to the company. Finally the
irrigators specified that, if the culverts could be made to carry the full stream
required, they would agree to let them remain.
The culverts were found to be flowing only abou t eighty percent full.
Correction at intake was made by building a funnel in take out of sheet
iron. (This was used only as a form for concrete.) A short slit, one foot long,
was made on the upper edge of both culverts, and the ahort wings were bent upward .
After this operation the culverts were found to flow full, and they took
the maximum stream that the water master turned down.
The Barrier System Employed
The principle job at "Willow Creek" was that of controling floods in
Little Cottonwood where willow Creek enters . At t his junction there was a great
accumulation of boulders and other flood debris. (Sand, gravel and floating debris.)
This had been a hazard to canal operators, and even to streets and highways three
miles below.
All has been stopped . A barrier extends across the entire channel from
high ground on the west, across Willow Creek to the high bank on t he east. At the
pos ition where the spillway was ins talled , there is a drop of about eight feet.
The spillway is sixteen feet wide and the wings are sixteen feet high.
31
The downstream wings are made long enough to support a bridge that will carry t en
tons. The spillway has a bottom of rubble masonry, a downstream cutoff wall and
pavement up the sides of the new channel to the tops of t he banks . I t has a
semi- circular crest about twenty five feet long.
The spillway is built out of rubble , set in concrete . I t was made in
three days by two University of Utah students with three student helpers, none
of whom had ever lain rock or boulders before.
The flood channel downstream formerly spread over an area seven hundred
f i fty feet wide , in many channels. It now flows in one channel fifty fee t wide on
top. The numerous flood channels were eliminated in 1958. Before "high water"
eleven cross jetties were built by bulldozer. The firs t one was attached to high
ground on the east . The second one to high ground on the we st . The third one
attached on the east, open on the west and so on down to number eleven where the
stream was returned to a single, natural channel. The jetties were about one
hundred fifty feet apart.
When the stream dropped to one hundred second feet, (from about six
hundred fifty maximum) a single channel was cut through the je tt ies, according
to previous agreement with water users and with County Officials .
The jetties were then knocked down. The material they contained helped
to cover the rocks. Additional fine material was brought in from fans under the
high bank on the east . At the north where the stream leaves the willow Creek
property a barrier and spillway was built to catch the fine material uncovered
and left when the new channel was built. (This basin is now nearly full of good,
water washed sand and gravel.)
Hydraulic Fills
In at least two instances, Leo A. Snow of St. George used the hydraulic
f i ll successfully in building dams out of fine sand, (the only material available).
One of these is a storage reservoir for St. George, where the stream from Pine
Valley Mountain was held when not needed. He used lava rock available in
abundance, to bui ld up t he outsides of the dam. Between these rows of rocks,
32
built higher, and higher, layer after layer, he flushed in sand with the mountain
water supply until the dam was completed.
When it was finished it held water. It has been in operation for more
than forty five years .
He also built a dam at Ivins, near Santa Clara out of fine sand. The
reservoir above it is filled by high water from Santa Clara Creek. that flows
through the Ivins Canal. This reservoir is too low to serve Ivins; but it supplies
water for Santa Clara and the St . George lands along the Santa Clara Creek. Ivins
in this way, has obtained water from Santa Clara Creek at low water t ime equivelent
to the amount stored above the hydraulic filled dam .
Hydraulic Fill at Five Mile Gulch
Near Preston . Idaho is a deep, long gorge called Five Mile. (It is
about five miles long). It has washed out to a depth of two hundred feet and over.
This gorge filled Bear River for twenty miles with silt.
In correcting t he condition a permanent drop was made where the flood
stream from Dayton Creek was cutting further and further back. (Five Mile forks,
near Dayton. One fork runs far to the north, the other into the mountain range
west of Dayton . )
Below this fork a dam was built seventy two feet high . The only ma terial
available is fine sand. Therefore Dayton Creek was turned out on either side and
the water was used in helping to build t he dam. Rims upstream and down were
raised by bulldozer about four feet at a time. Then the basin left was filled
with sand and water. (Two bulldozers were used. so that is one should sink
down the other could help it out ; but such help was never needed.)
When the basins were full, the surplus water was drawn off; then new
dikes were raised and the operation was continued . The two bulldozers were used
to bring in sand faster t han it could be brought by water alone . (They worked
on either side in the channels where the water flowed . )
At a height of twenty five feet a twenty four inch pipe was laid through
the dam. I t was placed at this level rather than on the bottom for two reasons .
33
First, i t seemed to be advisable to provide a basin where silt from flood waters
migh t settle. Second it was thought to be possible to save water from normal
flow for irrigation.
The first objective was readily accomplished. In the second instance,
supplemental water has been furnished for two farms. (They have about 160 acres
each.) Formerly, these farms had water for only about forty acres each. Now the
lake, twenty five feet deep, supplies all the water needed. (The in-flow is
surplus from the lands above. It must be pumped of course)
Five Mile channel, serves a useful purpose in providing adequate drainage
for the farm lands on either side.
Black Lake, In Quebec , Canada (Hydraulic Fills)
Three and one half miles east of Black Lake, Canada is a valley two
and one half miles long above a dam which is now eighty feet high, that has been
built out of gravel and sand, entirely . The fill material was moved by a large
dredge and a thirty inch pipe from Black Lake.
The American Smelting and Refining Company had purchased the lake.
(A mine had been explored. It was fifty feet below the surface.)
A huge dredge was built and floated on the lake. It was equipped with
a l arge horizontal centrifugal pump that stood nine feet high. There was also
a long line of floating "pontoons" (large tanks filled with air. ) and three and
one half miles of thirty inch iron pipe with walls originally one half inch thick.
The suction end of the pump was mounted on a great arm that would move
up to a horizontal position and downward to a depth of forty feet. The movement
of the pipe arm plus the movement of the dredge made it possible to swing the
suction pipe horizontally 60° . This suction pipe was preceeded by a revolving
cutter eight feet in diameter and nine feet deep.
A booster pump was located on the north lake shore and a second
"booster pump" was in the line about one mile further along. Both pumps are as
I arge as the one in the dredge.
At the delivery end of the long pipe, the valley narrowed to less than
34
one thousand feet, on top of the 80 foo t dam . Before starting the dam a line of
three foot pipe was laid through the dam site 1500 fee t wi t h a tower at the upper
end. The tower is made of channel iron and arranged so that eight inch by eigh t
inch flash timbers might be installed all around as the dredged material filled in.
(This dam was planned to create a basin for holding dredged mate~ial from Black
Lake as the mine was uncovered and drained.)
At first, no provision was provided for "loss of head" at the intake of
the outlet pipe; but a small pipe was welded in later to admit air and some water,
if necessary, to overcome the vacuum that forms just inside the intake of any
culvert. In this way the fifteen hundred feet of pipe through the dam was made
to flow full. (There are a series of recreation lakes further down Becancour River.
For this reason nothing but clear water from Black Lake was permitted to enter
the river system. Becancour was only a creek of less than ten second feet most
of the time.)
At first the dredged material was only sand and gravel. The pipe line
delivered about one hundred ten cubic feet per second, and this great volume of
water carried about twenty five percent solids. (The velocity through the pipe
~as about nineteen feet per second . )
(The heavy material was dropped near the outlet end of the pipe or was
carried forward depending upon whether it flowed into open water above the dam or
into the channel left by the bulldozers . )
The dam was raised, three or four feet at a t ime by bulldozers, working
in water, pushing up rim, after rim on the lower side, while on the upper side,
somet imes a rim was built , sometimes the sediment was allowed to flow "lake ~ard".
as the s urface rose. Usually a rim was built on the upper side as well. (It was
realized that sand and gravel had been deposited on glacial formation. Sand and
gravel was limited and the dam must be raised before sand and gravel gave out.)
No difficulty was experienced from running bulldozers over the newly
deposited sand and gravel, in the ~ater , It was never necessary to help a
bulldozer out. The operators were careful to keep their machines always level
35
or nearly so.
Once the new dam built of sand and gravel, soaked through, slides on
the lower side occured. These were checked by covering them with clay and soil
from nearby.
Under the deposit of sand and gravel at Black Lake, blue and blue­black
clay was encount ered. It con tained small boulders at first. These became
larger and larger as greater depths were reached. The clay encountered is
"boulder clay" that was dropped thousands of years ago during the period of
glaciation. This clay was compacted and was so hard that i t coul d not be
penetrated by the powerfu l cutter that ran in front of the s uction pipe. There­fore
t he clay had to be drilled and blasted to loosen i t for the pump to pick up.
This clay whipped up into a "batter" that refused to settle and to give
up i ts water. By experiment, i t was found that this ma terial could be settled by
adding alum . But this was prohibi t ive. (Too expensive). Finally i t was found
that settlement might be made wi t h lime. Accordingly, several car loads of
lime were procured, and introduced . At first , a flat boat was used. I t went
back and forth, from one end of the lake to the other, and lime was dumped
over the entire area. Then more lime was dumped into t he stream as i t issued
from the dredge.
Meanwhile a return canal was built all the way to Black Lake . It was
necessary that the lake surface be kept cons t ant, or nearly so while t he dredge
operated over the entire surface exposed. (The original lake was shaped like
a peanut. Across the narrow section a dam was buil t to hold water in the south
end. The mine is in the north end.)
Obviously the boulder clay could not be used for dam building . But,
the dam had been built to full height, eighty fee t , while the dredged materials
were sand and gravel. Boulder clay had one favorable charac teristic, i t sealed
the dam !£ that i t stopped ~ ~.
(A second outlet , at a high level was built. The firs t ou t le t pipe
began to fail and was found to be leak ing at joints about half way through the
36
dam. But it did not fail completely, and is still in condition for operation
if necessary. However, it is completely shut off by flash timbers in the tower
at the upper end.) By encasing the outlet pipe in reinforced concrete, as in
t he seventy two foot high dam on Five Mile, in southern Idaho , (where a two foot
pipe through the dam was encased in concrete), it is probable that the hazard
of failure could have been avoided.
In connection with the Black Lake Dam in Canada, the pipe that was
one half inch thick at beginning wore through in many places . (The great pump
in the dredge and the two booster pumps would handle rocks over a foot in
diameter.) As the pit beside the mine became deeper, the boulders encountered
became more numerous and larger. Finally it was found to be necessary that they
be broken .
Two depository basins were laid out close by. and the better lengths
of pipe were used. Even then it was found to be necessary to install "liners"
in the pipes . The pipes had been turned (rotated) every week, so as to make the
wear more uniform.)
Finally the stream seemed to carry more than twenty five percent of
heavy material, and this was composed very largely of rock . However, there was
enough sand and gravel mixed in so that dikes were built across the low areas ,
which was at least one half the way around each new basin. (These dikes are
about ten feet high.) They, too , were pumped in and were raised by bulldozer.
Bines Gulch (Wash)
Checking Movement of Silt
Immediately north of Five Mile Gulch in southern Idaho is "B ines Gulch" .
It renewed its activity in 1952 during the time that Five Mile was being placed
under control! Two new areas started flowing from under high banks. One in
particular moved very rapidly starting through a sugar beet field across a
large farm. The other moved more slowly. The banks were about sixty feet high.
The one at the head of t he gulch caved as often as every fifteen minu tes. (The
large flow of seepage water at t he base of the high banks flowed out carrying
37
fi ne sand along. In this way hugh caverns were excavated , then, caving began . )
Attention was diverted to this channel that emptied first into Deep
Creek then into Bear River just above the entrance of Five Mile Gulch.
Juniper trees, growing on ridges nearby, were dozed in just below the
two heavy inflows. These were covered by sand. The dams were made sufficiently
high to stop the caving by forcing the seepage water to flow out more quietly at
a high level. Then rock drops were hauled in by truck to the stream bed . They
were placed across the channel at intervals of about 250 feet all the way down
to the entrance into Deep Creek. a little less than one mile below. Work was
continued until only clear seepage water entered Deep Creek.
The total t ime spent on Bines Gulch was about s ix days, with two bull-dozers,
a t wo and one half cubic yard shovel, five trucks and three extra men.
Thus a farm was saved, and Bear River was helped.
Black-Willow Cuttings
Similar operations were carried part way down Five Mile. In addition
cuttings of black willow about fifteen feet long were jetted in, two rows of them,
from the dam down. A few plantings were also made above the dam.
Black willow cuttings were chosen because black willow sends out a
root system that goes downward far below ground water surface.
The rows of cuttings were jetted in about sixteen feet apart, and were
left exposed three or four feet.
Two mistakes were made. First the exposed section was too long . It
sent out new shoots at first, about six inches. These looked good and we were
very much encouraged. Then the leaves and the new shoots died, except those
near the ground. We reasoned that t he new growth came from t he sap that was in
the cuttings. (They were cut in May. and came from areas at the south end of
Cache Valley, about 30 miles.) As soon as a root system was developed the shoots
near the ground grew fast. Now there are two lines of willow trees as far down
as the plantings were made,
Second The second mistake was that of setting the two rows of cuttings
too close together . They should be at lea~t thirty feet apart, instead of only
38
sixteen feet . Erosion began between the rows of cuttings and a channel at least
four feet deep was washed out below each rock drop. The cuttings leaned inward.
Tumble weeds gathered in. The inward leanings of the cuttings made it difficult
or nearly impossible for a tractor to operate within the channel.
Results have been good anyway. Only clear water was observed flowing
over the last rock drop - that is at least half way down the gulch. The flow of
silt into the Bear River has been s topped.
Three additional areas received black willow plantings and all have
been successful. One is at Kanab. (The cuttings for Kanab came from below Zions
Park between Rockville and Springdale.)
Bosque Del Apache
Another area that was protected by black willow plant ings was Bosque.
Del Apache. A Government Migratory Water Fowl Refuge on the Rio Grande River,
about fifty miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico . There the willow tops were
planted in a deep furrow across the top, (north) end and along the east border
next to the river. The willows grew and produced a mass of roo ts that protects
the refuge against high water.
St . David, Arizona
A third area is above St . David, Arizona in the south east corner of
Arizona . There, about 1927, the head works of a canal system was protected
against floods from San Pedro River that flows north out of Mexico . (The stream­bed
is nearly dry except when in flood)
At St. David the cuttings were from three to s ix inches in diameter,
and were set as fence posts. (They were only t hree to four feet apart.) No check
was made to determine what happened, only that the cuttings grew. They sent
out shoots when photographed, that were three to six inches long.
Where water is available, a pump may be used in setting the cuttings.
In this event i t is desireable to attach a fire hose to the pump, then reduce i t
at the outlet end, by using a short piece of seven eights inch or one inch pipe~
(About four feet long). The pipe attached to t he end of the hose, may be pointed
39
downward when jetting. If the formation is sand , a hole fifteen feet or less
deep may be jetted in a few seconds, and it will remain open while the cutting
is inserted to the depth desired. (It is necessary that each cutting be planted
below permanent water level.) Experience has shown that only twelve or fifteen
inches of each cutting should be left exposed . There are exceptions of course
as at St . David where the cuttings were large and were used as fence posts .
Finale
I used to think that "commencement" is a misnomen; that it should be
"finish" or some similar term designating that a student had gone through college
and was then ready to meet the problems of life. But actually, when I went into
the field, and came face to face with some of the real things to be solved , I
realized how little I knew; that the term "commencement" is worded correctly.
I was in reality only starting my education; that practical experience is worth
as much as a university education.
In practice I have drawn more from the teaching of my father than from
anyone thing learned in two universities .
It was A. P. Winsor II who said: "Son, if you want to build something
and you do not have what you think you need, look around and you will find
something that will do". That simple statement has been worth much to me .
This humble effort, that covers the important phases of irrigation
and flood control is dedicated to him, my Father.
40
Pivture Supplement
~
~
41
Irrigation Experimental Farm at
Roosevelt- Uintah Basin
A. P. Winsor Homestead at
Enterpr i se , Utah - 1900
20 Mule Team - Hauling Borax
from Death valley
43
44
Sam Halterman pumping
1st well at Cedar City
1915. About 325 gal ­lons
per minute.
2nd well at Cedar City .
Previously perforated
casing - 1919 .
Irrigating from a
deep well at
Mil ford. Utah.
45
Under Current Dam
Excavation - Enterpri se
The same, after i t was f il­led
with clay and prepared
as a Diversion Dam.
Storage Dam Number 2 at
Enterprise . This dam
was rai sed later by the
water users without help
except to be shown .
Jim Barnum guarding Number one dam at
Enterprise during World War 1.
46
Complete diversion of Shoal
Creek below Enterprise .
Final flood control .
The Same during flood.
Teams on Fresno scrapers.
47
Building a dam and a
roadway across Potato
Creek above Escalante ,
Utah.
The South end of the
same dam after 15
years of service. A
channel was cut
through rock and a
bridge put over the
channel.
A portion of the
Zuckerman Potato
farm near
Enterprise, Utah.
Deep Spring at Las Vegas - 1901. Sometimes
referred to as "Big Spring" . The Carl
Stradley U. P . Survey Part y passed by and
stopped for a swim . Notice the floating
island of sand . The sand island is not
really t here , but was only a "hoax".
48
George D. Clyde and
Russel Croft pumping
a deep well at
Welton, Utah - 1921.
Large boulder brought down by flood - Spring Ci ty, Utah - 1917.
Home at Ford Creek , Davis Coun ty , Utah .
Wrecked by flood of June 10 , 1930 .
49
Parish Creek Flood - 1931
Davis County, Utah
A sp i llway for dam above Minot , North Dakota.
The dam backs wa"ter to t he Canadian border
some 30 miles . Contractor used rocks by
preference. They are present in abundance .
50
Barrier Dam at Burlington ,
North Dakota . - 1935 - .
Large Spillway in
Montana - 1935.
Throughout the Prairie
States and the East,
erosion problems were
corrected by terracing
the farm lands. A
series of rock and
concrete structures
were used to pass the
water caught by terr­aces
to lower levels
or to streams below.
At Panaca, Nevada, summer floods
had plagued the settlers for
several years. These were con­trolled
in 1934. A dike on the
east under the foot hills with a
channel and masonry drops on the
south, solved the problem.
El Paso, Texas - Flood Control Structure .
51
These two pictures show canals
side by s ide in Rancagua Valley,
Chili, South America. The
author noticed the same thing
in Iran (Persia).
52
Ru th Dredger - Kalamath. Oregon
Ruth Dredger at Wil lows, Californi a.
Improving refuge for Geese - 1938.
Spillway at Kalamath Falls , Oregon .
53
/
Drop above bridge -
Salina Canyon, Utah
Barrier Spillway
Mt . Pleasant, Utah
Moving a bridge at
Salina Creek, Utah
Piers 16 feet apart .
Similar structure
and bridge built at
Little Cottonwood,
Utah.
Section of spill channel,
No. 10 - under construction.
Portion of channel leading
past end of No. 10 Barrier
at Kennecott Smelter.
The over- flow section is
from a tennel through the
Barrier. This was used
only temporarily while
flood deposit above No.
10 was forming.
No.2 Structure - Kennecott Smel ter.
The opening is same size
drain through the plant.
top i s for emergency.
55
as original
Spill on
Spill through above
barrier, raised to
83 feet in 1927 .
56
No.6 Barrier, Kennecott
Smelter. Built in 1927.
Looking down through No. 6
spillway. See screen on
No. 5 and mouth of new
tunnel under plant built
at No.2.
North Path at Willard . State Land Board & Box Elder
County purchased land, made
i t available for flood control.
57
Barrier basin
at Willard.
This picture
1925.
Interior of
Barrier basin
1925.
Santa Clara Creek , high
bank under farm. Eroded
by flood .
Jet ty built perpendicular
to stream .
58
Winsor divers ion and
sil t control dam.
Pomerene Diversion Dam on San Pedro River - Arizona,
Starting work on lower apron, Crest of original dam
to be extended 30 feet.
Bureau of Reclamation Dam after failure,
Looking North - down stream.
59
About 1925, a channel was cut across the farm
lands from Dayton east to Bear River. For a
while, it worked satisfactorily. Then, about
1935, it began to erode and soon a deep gorge
was cut , cal led Five Mile Gorge.
Sil t from the gorge soon worked
down t hrough the river for over
twenty miles. Plantings of
willows in the gorge by Soil Con­servation
Service did no good.
In 1952, the writer was c al l ed in.
A permanent, high drop was built
at the head of t he gorge while the
flood was on. A dam of sand-- 72
ft . high--was sl uiced into place.
Rock drops were built and black
willow chutes, 15 ft . long, were
planted along both s ides of a new
channel in the bottom of the go rge.
All silt has been stopped.
60
Barrier and Spillway in Salina Canyon, Utah
High Spillway through barrier in Salina Canyon, Utah
Spillway through barrier at old horse race track,
North of Kararrah .
Rock came from Washington County, hauled about
20 miles . They are water worn lava rock from
an old stream bed.
61
One lane of tra'ffic
opened past barn.
62
On August 13, 1923 a
flood cut 3 different
paths through Willard .
A barn floated down
South path at left.
North path purchased
by Utah Land Board
and Box Elder County
and converted into
Flood Control Basin .
Barn on highway brought
1/4 mile by flood.
Boulder over 300 tons, brought over 1/4 mile by flood
of August 13, 1923. Farmington Canyon, Utah.
Barrier and spill built i n 1924 to control floods.
Spill 6 feet high . Farmington, Utah.
Same spill when raised to final height 34 feet.
63
Culvert through highway
below above spillway_
Construction of culvert
in progress.
64
Looking toward road over
crest of a drop-inlet
spillway, through a
barrier on. the
Minersville - Milford
highway, Utah.
. .1
j~
•
J,J .II"
North wing and portion
of crest of drop inlet
spillway above large
hand made culvert at
Fiddler's Wash - Cedar
City, Utah
Wing Wall in process of construction . Kennecott
Smelter at Garfield , Utah. This wall is described in
text (page 17). It was 4 feet thick at base, then was
drawn in rapidly to 30 inches. It stands 30 feet high
and 60 feet long. It was back- filled when 50 days old
with mud from within the channel without being thrown
out of line and without breaking. It is 24 inches
thick on top.
Rubble masonry spillway from Medicine Lake - Montana.
65
66
Bridge at Hanksvil le , Utah .
Foundation could not be
found on Fremont River
(Dirty Devil below). Two
deep piling bridges had
been washed out of Dirty
Devil . Therefore one
bridge across new channel
through rock out- cropp i ng
on one s ide, installed on
Fremont River, above and
same on Muddy River above
junction. Main Channels
blocked.
Cottonwood trees and rocks
served as revetment of dikes
across channels. New road
built on dikes .
Looking down stream t hrough
new wing walls to barrier
spillway, 1958. This
structure built in 3 days
by 2 University of Utah
students , helped by 3 others.
None of these boys had ever
layed a rock before. Later
a bridge was built .
67
Beginning of Barrier System of Flood
Control , 1921 . This structure at Manti,
Utah, was begun in 1891 as a Diversion
Dam . It stopped flood debris although
crest was only 18 inches high to begin
with. When photographed in 1921 it
stood over 30 feet high, having been
raised a few inches each year.
The first barrier built
as a flood control structure
in 1921 by water users of
Nephi , Utah . This one
has a barrier 1500 feet
long and a crest 5 feet
high.
The spill crest back of
Mount Nebo at Nephi, Utah.
New bridge across Ashley Creek at Vernal Utah , after
it had been cleared of boulders . (It filled completely
f irst year after construction). After a drop-inlet
was built with a flood barrier, it has been kept
clean . Looking down stream.
Due to excessive freezing, a temporary spillway of
timber was built.
When high water was over, the temporary spillway was
covered with boulders in concrete. This was carried
under the bridge and on below the side wing walls,
over a deep cutoff wall below the bridge.
68
Mr. H. D. Bradford, Executive Vice President
of A. S. and R. Company of New York and
Pres ident of Lake Asbestos of Quebec is
shown standing in the giant cutter that,
when attached, is made to revolve in front
of the suction end of a 30 inch pipe that
leads into a giant pump in the dredge.
This revolving tool cuts its way through
most obstructions , but it would not
penetrate boulder clay.
69
Upper end of 1500 feet of
36 inch pipe t hrough the
dam at Black Lake, Quebec,
Canada . To overcome the
loss of head at intake a
small pipe was welded in
as shown . In this way
the culvert was made to
flow full at the lower
end .
70
Outlet of 30 inch pipe from
dredge on Black Lake, Canada ,
3; miles away . Pipe origin­al
ly was ! inch thick . I t
carried 110 second feet of
water t hat conducted 25~
solid sludge. This was used
first in building a dam 80
feet high and o~iginally 1500
feet thick at its base.
The dredge after it had removed
50 feet of water, sand . gravel,
silt and mud.
The same dredge converted into
a powerful monitor.
71
In 1957, the author was called
by Taylor Burton and associates
to outline a plan for controll ing
Little Cottonwood flood stream ,
where it leaves t he Wasatch
mountains and enters Great Salt
Lake Valley . The stream carries
much flood debris, includ ing
boulders up to 14 inches in
diameter.
The plan outlined, ca\led for a
barrier all the way across t he
stream , below t he entrance of
willow Creek.
It was pu t into operation. Mean­while
a new Coun try Club House
has been built and an 18 hol e
golf course has been establ i s hed.
Original ly, the channel divided
into many streams and spread over
an area 750 feet wide. This was
leveled by making the flood
stream z i g- zag between 11 cross
jetties 150 feet apart into which
sand from the high fans on the
East was dumped.
When the stream subsided from
650 second feet to 100 second
feet , the jetties were leveled
down and the stream was confined
to one channel 50 feet wide where
it now flows .
72
Mexican Springs, New Mexico
Excavation for bowl shaped
spillway. looking south
along center line of dam
just above waterworks well ,
Mexican City.
View shows detail of ex­cavation
for crest, also
cut~off up stream. The
spillway is to be buil t
over the earth core as
indicated .
view of bowl - shaped spillway
showing rock work carried
nearly to top of compacted
earth core, also cut- off
trench up stream. Mexi can
Sp rings, New Mexico. 1934.
North wing of bowl-type
spil lway finished. Wing
extends 14 feet above
crest . Mexican Spri ngs,
New Mexico, 1934.
Five Mile, Idaho. Cuttings
of Black Willow were jetted
in more than 10 feet. But
they should have gone down
still deeper and rows
should be at least 30 feet
apart. However, all have
grown. Now there is a
solid mat of willow trees.
At St. David, Arizona , the same general
results are in evidence.
At Kanab, Utah , the town , the highway, and the canal
have been saved. This picture - looking up stream ,
canal, road and town on right.
73
Skull-Rock Pass
Canal leading to culvert, to save flood from going
over the road.
At the end of canals drop-inlets were made for catching
floating weeds, brush and trash, and to check and hold
back sand and gravel. Roadways were usually high
enough to serve as barriers .
74
In 1922 surveys were made for several small reservoirs in Utah . It had been
observed that small reservoirs have a definite beneficial place in irrigation
practice. This is particularly true where the water supply is very limited
and streams are small .
75
A typical sand dam hold­ing
water from Pine Val­ley
MO un tain for St.
George, Utah.
Lava rock on outside,
sand sluiced between
to desired elevation.
Leo A. Snow, the
engineer, did many
things of this nature.
He was ultra conserv­ative
and found ways
of doing things that
would save expense.
76
Two bull dozers in ditch of
water helping the small
stream to wash sand in for
the Dam below the forks of
Five Mile stream in Sou thern
Idaho.
Bines Wash. Road where
juniper trees were dozed
in to build a dam and
stop the caving of
valuable farm land.
Five Mile. Truck
dumping rock for
building silt
control dam.
Flood at Kanarrah
brought down a
huge amount of
quaking aspen.
These were lod­ged
above high­way
bridge .
Hydranger installed
ready for preparing
way for a 24 inch .
cuI vert.
77
Davi s Creek , Davis
County . Boulder
brought out by
August flood 1926.
An ideal barrier and spillway for flood control.
Note t he amount of water held back and the steep slope of material
above the still water.
This i s obtained by:
a. length of barrier
b . height of spil lway,
The structure is at Farmington , Utah. The sp ill crest was only
6 feet above stream bed to begin with, but i t was raised year
after year unt il it reached i ts present height of 34 feet, The
last addition was made in 1954 .
78
SUPPLEMENl'
FLOOD OONTROL BY U. S. ARMY ENGINEERS
The method which seems to have been adopted by U. S. Flood Control
Engineers is to make a flood stream carry its load of debris on to the sea. Where
banks of the stream stand in danger of overflowing during periods of flood, levies
are built. These have been lined or are in process of being raised. These levies
are lined on the water side to prevent erosion. The lining is usually concrete
poured in place or is made out of pre cast slabs which are cabled together.
By forcing this flood debris , - consisting of silt, sand , gravel, and
floating debris, - on to the sea fans are built out further and further. The most
notable example is the Mississippi River which receives all the water and debris
from the Missouri River; the Illinois River; the Ohio River and other minor streams .
Another example is the St. Johns River in Florida. Another is the
Jordan River , and tributaries in Utah. And still another is Los Angeles River, and
other flood streams in Los Angeles County, California. The latter will be discussed
in detail.
The flood control feature in this book, deals with a method of control
of mountain streams by which flood debris is stopped before it enters the main
river channels, thus eliminating the tremendous expense of building lining and
maintaining dikes. It e11minates the necessity of pushing deltas further and
further into the ocean or gulf , and i t provides fresh water for building up the
ground water levelS, so that the water thus stored may be made available for
culinary use.
LOS ANGELES COUNrY FLOOD OONl'ROL
An effort has been made by the engineers in charge of flood streams
through Los Angeles and vicinity to control the floods and prevent them from
doing damage to life and property. In doing this the United States has been called
upon for help. At the time work was started the author had published a bulletin
on flood control. This was in November 1933. It was bulletin number 165 of the
Uni ted States Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publications, under the
79
title: The Barrier System for Control of Floods in Mountain Streams. Advice was
asked . The Army Engineers were advised to stop flood debris at the entrance to main
channels or above them . They were advised to establish barriers, below basins where
debris could be stopped and controlled, and to build spillway crests with adequate
foundations for future raising as the basins filled and as dikes were built to
higher level s.
They located many barrier basins, but built permanen t spillways below
them with "0 Gee" curved , concrete surfaces. No provision was made for raising to
new levels as t he basins filled.
Several large dams were bu il t to catch flood waters. In addit i on channels
leading to the sea were diked on each side where they were weak and were faced on
the ins ide with concrete in order that the flood streams might flow on to the sea.
Later, the author examined the area and was disappointed when he saw that
no provision had been made for raising the levels of barriers.
Originally, provision could have been made for larger basins. But. when
examined , "real estate sharks" had already located people at the edge of basins.
There was no chance for enlargement , even then. I t is much worse now.
When asked how the engineers proposed to handle debris as the basins
filled, he was answered : "Oh, we will l oad it on trucks and haul i t out." But
that has never been done. Now t here is no place where i t may be dumped.
There seem to be two main objections to the plan in operation : First,
the flood debris is carried on to the sea, where i t builds out deltas that become
larger with every flood. Second , the precious rain water is wasted in the ocean.
(Fresh water i s a "boon" in Los Angeles where it is needed for domestic use.)
With t he large reservoirs , some flood water i s held back. This , when
run out slowly, sinks into the ground or r uns into spreading basins and helps to
build up the "water table". (Some provision has been made for "spreading".)
(But the principle spread ing works was designed by the Bureau of Agricultural
Engineers, no t by the U. S. Flood Control Engineers.)
Deep wells have been made deeper and pumps have been lowered un til they
80
began to pump salt water because the "water table" had dropped below sea level.
Other barriers, basins and spillways have been built in Utah, in states
of the United States of America, and in other countries of the world.
TIlE BARRIER SYSTEM OF FLOOD CONTROL
All barriers other than those in Los Angeles County have been built by me
with the intention that spillways should be raised as basins above are filled with
flood debris, rather than to "haul it out".
At Garfield smelter west of Salt Lake City, Utah, the original spill crest
was built eighty ~hree feet above t he channel below, in 1927. In 1928 this crest
was raised to a height of one hundred feet above stream-bed . In 1938 it was raised
to one hundred fourteen feet, and provision was made for raising indefinitely
higher if higher levels be needed for holding all flood debris at any future time .
At Farmington, Utah, the spill crest was started in 1924 at a height of
six feet above stream-bed. In 1954 this same barrier spill crest had reached a
height of thirty four feet. An immense volume of sand and gravel was held back.
This was used by the State of Utah for building a new over pass near Farming·ton
and as sub grade for a new highway about twenty miles long through Davis County.
It is not usually necessary to raise the flood barrier and crest of
spillways as often or as much as in the two cases sighted. There are nearly one
hundred barriers where the spill crest was bu il t, originally, high enough so that
further raising has not been necessary to date. The last one buil t was at the
mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon about thirteen miles south of Salt Lake City. Utah.
This barrier was constructed in 1958. It stops all boulders, gravel, sand and
silt, and most of the floating debris, which is lodged on the banks, where it
may be burned after the basin becomes dry . It is probable that the present barrier
will suffice for at least twenty years more .
The cres~ which is a sharp arch thirty feet long. was raised only six
feet above stream-bed. Down stream are wing walls sixteen feet high and sixteen
feet apart . On these a bridge was built that will carry ten tons.
The wings crest and bridge was built by common labor , the rock work
81
having been done by five students from the University of Utah in three days.
The crest wing walls and down stream section that was made in two vertical piers,
were built out of flood boulders nine to fourteen inches in diameter, set in
concrete. The wings and down stream walls were made double, using only boulders
as forms, and placing " ready mix" concrete in the middle of each wall between
rows of boulders. The walls were raised in layers, one boulder high wi th each
pour of "ready mix".
This structure has served the new Willow Creek Country Club for five
years, and has stopped completely all gravel, sand and silt, that formerly filled
canals and ditches, and was a menace to numerous street and road crossings all
the way to Jordan River, about five miles below.
It is certainly recommended that flood barriers be built in preference
to the tremendously expensive system of building and lining dikes.
82

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IRRIGATION
And
FLOOD CONTROL
by
WINSOR
THE AUTHOR'S SUMMA.RY OF EXPERIENCE
He was born at Hebron, Utah on January 21, 1884. His first recollection
is that of being out with his father attempting to "help" in the irrigation of a
large garden. He has spent his life with water and problems related to water.
During his early youth he was on an irrigated ranch five miles west of Hebron
most of the time . At the age of thirteen and fourteen he was responsible for the
irrigation of crops on a large farm near St. George , Utah .
At the age of fourteen and fifteen he mixed mortar and assisted a rock
mason then helped to make and lay brick, becoming a fairly good brick mason.
At the age of sixteen to twenty he obtained experience in surveying by
helping to locate, f i rst the extension to California of what is now the Union
Pacific Railroad; then the Western Pacific Railroad; then on the Denver & Rio
Grand Railroad he helped to locate and build the narrow gauge from Mack, Colorado
over Ache Pass to Dragon, Utah. On this assignment he obtained considerable ex­perience
in handling surveying instruments. But , he felt the need for education.
In 1904 he registered at the State Agricultural College, at Logan , Utah, where he
spent the next seven years. (Three years in preparatory work and four years at
college. )
In 1905 and 1906 he aided Dr. John A. Widstoe in tabulating irrigation
results for his irrigation bulletins . I n 1907 and 1908 he made moisture
determinations before and after irr i gation from soil samples which he obtained
on the experimental farm. He also made moisture determinations of crops grown
there.
In 1909 he worked under the State Engineer and measured all water in
canals from Logan River. This water was being delivered to water- users. In 1910
he received an appointment in the United States Division of Irrigation Investigations
and studied the use of water in crop production. This was continued in 1911.
Then, in 1911 he became the first County Agent in the north and west and was
appointed to Uintah Basin. (The Smith-Lever act creating County Agents was passed
i
in 1912.)
He went from Uintah Basin to Colorado in 1912 and became the first County
Agent in the five Counties of San Luis Valley . While in thi•s capacity he was taken
to Washing ton D.C. for a month when the County Agent program was being launched.
He had received a degree as an Irrigation Engineer, the first to be issued
in Utah, and the first to be conferred anywhere so far as the author is aware.
(He went to Uintah Basin and to t he Colorado assignments because of his experience
in handling water.)
In 1913 he returned to Utah as Irrigation Spec ialis t , and remained in
that position until 1934. During that t ime many floods occured in Utah, and t he
Barrier System of control was worked out by him.
In 1918 he had gone to Chile, South America, to work on a food production
problem for American Smelting and Refining Company. Their mine in Chile is located
on a high plateau under the Andes mountains. (It never rains there.) All food
had to be brought in by train and there was no refrigeration. The company wished
to increase its mining community from I~OOO to 4~OOO people, and desired to
produce most of t he food locally . This meant irrigation.
The project was closed in 1919 because of a drop in the price of copper.
In 1933 the author was loaned to the United States Forest Service. Twenty
two C C C Camps were established in Utah, Nevada and Colorado. (In Nevada there
were t wo, in Colorado, one.) All camps devoted their time to flood control. He
outlined work programs for all of them and supervised operation.
In 1934 he was appointed by the President of the United States of America
to a committee to work out a plan for the control of floods and erosion on the
Navajo Indian Reservation. The same year he put the plan into operation then moved
to Albuquerque as engineer in the first office set up for erosion control, in t he
newly organized Bureau of Soil Conservation. From Albuquerque he went to several
states, as far east as Virginia and helped to establish other offices and services
in the new bureau. In this capacity he served as Chief Engineer.
In 1927 he had laid out the Bear River Bird Refuge, (Later a similar
ii
refuge was built under his supervision at the mouth of Weber River . ) The Bear River
Refuge was completed in 1929.
In 1935 he went to Minot, North Dakota and laid ou t and built 9 refuges
for U.S. Biological Survey. These were located in North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and Montana. From there, when Biological Survey
became Fish and Wild Life Service, he went on west. He established under
J . C. Sallier, further improvements for wild life; antelope and elk in wyoming;
elk in Montana; ducks and geese in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Northern California.
Then antelope in Nevada; bighorn sheep in Oregon, Nevada and along Mexican border
in the high mountains of Southern Arizona. Other refuges for ducks and geese
were built in California, Nevada , New Mexico and Texas.
Meanwhile headquarters were established at Salt Lake City, Utah. From
t here he was able to cover all the terr i tory west of the Mississippi River, and
to look after the work under way .
In 1941 he sailed west from San Francisco for Iran where he had agreed to
serve as advisor in water problems to Shah Rezah; but, when he reached Bombay, India
three months later, Iran had been invaded by Russia and by the Briti sh, and Shah
Rezah was taken captive to Africa, where he died a few months later.
The United States of America came in as mediator. A new government was
set up in Iran and Pahlavi, the present Shah, was placed on the throne. The author
was requested by cable to proceed to Teheran . His service was needed. He changed
ships and continued to his destination . But he soon found that he could do very
little as advisor. At his request the three Ministries that were "dabbling" with
irrigation were consolidated into one. under the Ministry of Agriculture, and he
was made Director General. Thus his hands were "untied" and he was given the
authority he required.
He re t urned to America in 1946. He had comple ted a trip all t he way
around the world.
He entered the service of the Utah State Road Commission at once, and
had the responsibility of controling floods that menace highways in Utah. Also
iii
that of installing culverts.
Boring equipment was soon procured. After it was obtained no hard
surfaced road was permitted to be cut in Utah . When a contractor complained that
he had no way of installing a culvert or culverts except to cut the road, he was
told that the state would make the install ation. That he would be charged only
operating expense, nothing for use of the equipment. Of course he accepted, and
the installation was made by the state.
In 1955 the author was required to retire from the state road commission
at the age of seventy one and one half years. Immediately his service was reques ted
by American Smelting and Ref ining Company , for Black Lake, Quebec, Canada, where
the company had procured a mine that was fifty feet under lake level. In 1927
the author had outlined and supervised the ins tallation of a system of flood control
above the company's Garfield smelter, twenty two miles west of Salt Lake City.
He has had full charge of construction ever s ince. The company has built the best
set of flood control works in the world. In 1927 one third of the plant was destroyed.
The company had to decide whether to build the controls or move the smelter. It
was decided to build the controls . They knew him and wanted his service in Canada.
Twenty one round trips were made to the job. The las t one was in 1962 and that
was only for a "check up" to see that everything was all right.
While with the state road commission Provo Airport was diked and saved.
I t had been built by U.S. Army Engineers below the lake level. It was flooded
2 feet deep in 1947.
These experiences have been of such character as to make it seem to be
advisable that this book be written.
The book may find a place as a guide for the practical student of
irrigation and flood control.
iv
Table of Contents
Irrigation in Uintah Basin
Difficulty in making dry soils take water
Removing burned spots
Irrigation
Before planting rather than after planting
Irrigation of potatoes
Irrigation of Alfalfa
Irrigation of Orchards
Methods of Irrigation water delivery
Ro tation.
Use of -
Canal s
Floods
Continuous flow •
Call system.
Small Reservoirs .
Use in storage over holiday or over night
Large Reservoirs.
Ground water.
Shoal Creek .
Need for cooperation in building canal headworks
In South America
In Iran .
In U. S. A.
Early experience .
Flood at Spring City, Utah
Consolidation
Consolidation at Daniel
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
5
5
6
6
7-8
8-9-10
10
10
10
11
11
12
13
13
Jetties .
At Santa Clara Creek, Utah
On Provo River
Weber River
Terracing
Headward Erosion
Pomerene, Arizona
Struc tures .
Back Filling
Compaction with water essential.
Rubble Masonry .
Gravel & Sand Control
Early Experience
The Barrier System .
At Kennecott Smelter
A t Farmington.
A t Willard
Drop Inlets in Southern Utah
At Kanarrah
At Minersville - Milford
At Skull-rock Pass
Drops above bridges.
Sal ina Canyon.
Vernal
Loss of Head at intake to culverts corrected
At Vernal.
Near Preston, Idaho
At Black Lake in Canada
At Willow Creek Country Club
•
The Barrier System employed at Willow Creek Country Club
•
•
13
13
14
lS
lS
15-16
16
17
18-19
19-20
21
22
23
23
24
2S
26
26
27
28
28
28
30
30
30
30
31
31
Hydraulic Fills (Leo A. Snow)
At Five Mile Gulch
At Black Lake in Canada
Bines Gulch (In Idaho) .
Movement of silt
Black-Willow plantings
Finale .
At Five Mile Wash, Idaho . . .
Bosque Del Apache, New Mexico.
St. David, Arizona
Picture supplement
Supplement Flood Control
Flood Control by U. S. Army Engineers.
Los Angeles County Flood Control .
The Barrier System of Flood Control
Map of Los Angeles Area
•
32
33
34
37
37
38
39
39
40
41
79
79
79
81
83
IRRIGATION AND FLOOD OONl'ROL
By
L. M. Winsor
In order that there shall be a record of observations and findings
during sixty three years of active service in irrigation and flood control
experience this book is written. Reference is made to a situation that dates
back to 1891 , and observations refer to conditions that existed thousands of
years ago. But the major considerations are confined to actual observations
and findings.
IRRIGATION IN UINl'AH BASIN
Difficulty in Making New Soil Take Water
Homesteaders on new lands of the former Indian Reservation in Uintah
Basin found it necessary to irrigate every three or four days in order to keep
their crops growing. In answer to their questions they were told that in all
probability they were not getting water into the deeper soil.
One irrigator said , "Well this soil should be soaked all the way down
to China. " Water has been running here for fifteen hours." A shovel revealed
dry subsoil within s ix inches of the surface , or the depth of plowing.
Steps were taken immediately to find some way to force the water down.
Strips were l aid out through the fields, and each irrigation was followed by
cultivation, or a stirring or s urface soil. On similar land a plot was diked
and water was held within the dikes, continuously. But results were negative.
Finally it was concluded to try late and early irrigation. Late
irrigation would be followed by freezing. The moist soil would freeze. The
subsoil would also freeze, somet imes as deep as three feet. The frost action
should make penetration of moisture easier if the water were applied very earl y ,
when the frost would be l eaving the deeper soil .
This system was followed. An exper imental tract had been establ i shed.
Str ips through fields were continued.
1
As a result, after the very early irrigation, moisture had penetrated
deeper than ten feet. (A ten foot soil auger was the longest available)
On the experimental tract, crops were grown to maturity with no further
irrigation. Other plots received one, and still others two additional irrigations.
One more irrigation brought worthwhile results; but two irrigations following
the very early application, were not necessary. The increase in yield was very
slight.
Conclusions reached in Uintah Basin were carried to Green River in
Grand County , to Carbon County and to Emery County, where soil conditions are
similar and where difficulty was being experienced by irrigators in forcing
water into subsoils. Results were posit i ve , so far as penetration was concerned .
One serious difficulty followed. Once penetration was made , too much
water was added , and water- logging of subsoils and concentration of alkali on
the s urface followed. In a very few cases the water users took seriously the
advice to use water sparingly .
I n most instances drainage was found to be necessary in order to
continue crop product i on .
Removing Burned Spots
It was found that burned spots in alfalfa in partiCUlar. may be
eliminated by the use of very early water . Sometimes these spots were found
to be a little higher than surrounding land. I n this event they were dressed
down . But usually the subsoi l never received the required moisture. Always it
was found to be desireable to observe conditions as regards subsoil. Then steps
were taken to bring about a remedy.
Very early i rrigation was found to be effect i ve in obtaining a cure
for "burned spots"
I rrigate Before Rather Than After Planting
I t was learned a long time ago that a seed-bed must have adequate
moisture at planting t i me. It was the erroneous practice of some farmers, before
2
1920, to plant the seed in a dry soil then irrigate after for germination. This
was proved to be a bad practice. Much better results were obtained py irrigating
before planting. It was then possible to keep the crop growing uniformly and
it required much less total water than was the case where irrigation followed
planting.
The crop grown where tests were made was sugar beets. Tests were run
in Sevier County near Richfield. Results were definitely in favor of irrigation
before planting.
Keep Potatoes Growing
In the case of potatoes, i t was learned by experiment, that it is never
advisable to let the soil become dry after the potatoes bloom. (That is when
the crop is formed).
If the soil becomes dry after the new potatoes are formed, then they
stop growing. When water is applied the "tubers" start growing again, and "knots"
are formed. This throws the final crop into third or fourth class instead of
first class where it will be if the crop, when formed, is kept growing, and
uniform potatoes are produced, without "kno ts".
Irrigation of Alfalfa
One early irrigation i s always good for the first crop. If late fall
irrigation has been applied the previous year and this is followed by early spring
irrigation the alfalfa field will make two, even three crops without further
application. In cases where water is not applied until May, then one irrigation
is necessary for the first crop. A second irrigation, if possible, before the
first cutting is removed will u'sually be required for a second crop. A third
irrigation for a th ird crop; and a fourth for the fourth crop, and so on.
In warm countries where as many as ten crops of alfalfa are produced,
ten irrigations may no t be required. (So far as information has been obtained,
experiments have not been conducted to determine the amount of water required in
such cases). Suffice to say: "Such crops as alfalfa, consume water in proportion
to the number of crops grown rather than being measured by the quantity required
for s ingle crops like small grain, sugar- beets, potatoes etc. "
3
Irrigation of Orchards
Some experiments were made to determine the effect of water in fruit
production. The experiment was with peaches. It was found that water applied
liberally, after the peach pit was well grown, had a marked effect upon the rate
of growth and the size of the peach produced. A growth of as much as one inch
per day, in circumference was produced by holding water off , until the pit was
grown, then by applying it liberally until the crop began to ripen.
Large peaches were produced, and they were full of juice. But they
did no t sh ip to marke t on the Atlantic Sea Board so well as peaches that were
smaller, but firmer , having received less water while maturing.
METHODS OF DELIVERY OF WATER TO IRRIGATORS
Rotation
The most common method of delivery is by rotation. In a few rare
cases users receive a "turn" once per week at a certain hour and minute. But
this is unusual because i t means that water comes to some one every Sunday or at
night which has its disadvantages. Furthermore, when the stream becomes small it
usually happens that users become more careless in its use. They may even leave
it running in the same place for hours, even days while they go about other work.
The objections to rotation once per week are met usual ly, by carrying
the rotation over a longer period , say every eight days or even every fifteen days.
(usually not longer). In either event i t means that schedules must be worked out
in advance. Sometimes i t is of advantage to break the rotation up still further,
say every eight and one-half days, so that t he " turn" will not start at the same
time, day or night, each t ime. This is of particular help to small users whose turn
las ts for only a few hours. It could happen that in some cases the small user
would have his turn only at night, if the eight day rotation were practiced.
Continuous Flow Delivery
Some mountain streams have an abundance of water, during periods of
"high water", in which event , "continuous flow" delivery is possible and may be
helpful. However , "continuous flow" usually means excessive, careless, use of
4
water. When the stream falls off and particularly when it falls down to a small
amount, continuous flow delivery becomes very difficult . In some cases the flow
is so smal l that when it is divided equally among the users, the small user
sometimes has barely enough to reach his farm. All streams become small, and it
is desireable that they be combined and carried in rotation from farm to farm so
that each will have sufficient to demand attention while it lasts. This means
that schedules must be worked out and users must be notified when their turn
will begin and when it will end . Naturally the office must know how much each
user is entitled to and his schedule is worked ou t accordingly.
The Call Sys tem
Where the stream is large, such as on Snake River Canals in Idaho,
the "call system" works out to good advantage. In t his event the user applies
in advance for the water he wants, and specifies the time it i s to begin, and the
amount wanted. For example, if he is irrigating alfalfa, he can use a large
stream, usually, a shorter time , and he knows in advance about when he will want
the water. If nis crop is sugar beets , and the seed bed, when planted contains
adequate moisture, he knows that he will want a moderate stream at about a certain
time for about so long , then it will be repeated after so many days . He must
be able to determine very closely what his requirements will be.
If the crop is potatoes, or if he has some alfalfa, some sugar beets
and some potatoes, he must be able to specify how much water he will need. He
can then draw up to his right , and can hold water back as he wishes. At any
event both the user and the company must be well informed. The watermaster must
be provided with adequate measuring devices and must know how to use them.
Smal l Reservoirs
Sometimes users on small streams have provided private, small reservoirs
into which the small stream is turned, then he opens the reservoir and makes a
large stream flow while he uses it to much better advantage than he would be
able to use the small , continuous flow.
Somet imes the irrigation company makes a small reservoir where the small
5
stream is stored. Then a large stream is turned down to users. Naturally the water
is delivered according to rights .
It happens occasionally that a company stores the water over short
holiday periods , or over Sunday.
Storage Overnight
To avoid night irrigation, it is sometimes possible to s tore the
entire stream overnight, or during a celebration, and in that way make a better
use of the small flow than would be possible if night. Sunday, and holiday use
be required.
It is possible to store a small stream in a small reservoir, then turn
to the irrigator a large stream for a shorter time. When the company does not
provide them, small, private reservoirs are used by progressive irrigators who
desire to make the best possible use of a small stream.
Large Reservoirs
Usually with large reservoirs it is possible for users to have water
in the volume they want when they want it. It is the exception rather than
the rule when this is not the practice. But, to do this both irrigator and
company , through the watermaster, must know requirements and how to satisfy them.
In some cases the users may want water late in the fall and early in
the spring , even before canals are cleaned ready for the seasons operation. Or,
as is sometimes true the system may be cleaned in the fall, ready for early
spring use . (This practice is adopted as standard by companies that know the
value of early irrigation.) It was common that canal and lateral systems should
not be cleaned until after spring planting and other early, urgent work is over;
but this falacious rule has been overcome by the more wide awake users who know
the value of very early water, and get ready for it.
Certain late season crops such as sugar beets where adequate moisture
was available at planting time require water only after the ground has become
shaded . In this case the first irrigation usually need not be applied until after
the leaves are well formed. After irrigation begins, then water is usually needed
6
quite regularly until the crop is grown.
In the case of potatoes, if the subsoil contains adequate water at
planting time, then the first irrigation is usually required after blooming time
and after the new crop is well along. Once irrigation is started then it must
continue in order to keep the crop growing, to avoid the production of "knots".
In the case of corn one or two irrigations after the corn is in
"the silk" may be required.
For these , and similar crops the water user requires late season water.
Use of Ground Water For Irrigation
Extensive use has been made of ground water for irrigation in the west.
In fact, there was a time when irrigation from ground water exceeded that of
gravity streams. (Idaho was probably an exception). For example, during the
early part of the twentieth century, from 1900 to about 1930 the area where
Las Vegas, Nevada is now located, was developed first as a farming area, irrigated
entirely by ground water, mostly flowing wells . At first there were deep springs.
The one shown furnished water, first for Stewart Ranch. (In 1900 to 1909 this
was the only habitation in that part of the valley). Then other deep springs flowed
a small stream. Mostly banks had grown higher and higher as winds brought in
sand and dust to be deposited around the moist rim .
Later, deep wells were drilled and the water developed was used in
crop production. This continued until the thirties when Hoover Dam was built.
In California much land was irrigated from wells. In fact pumps were
very common for a long time. They were finally dropped deeper and deeper until
they began delivering salt water because the ground water level had dropped
below sea level.
In Utah, much development was made in the early part of the twentieth
century, by the utilization of ground water for irrigation. The first wells were
near Cedar City. Then development was carried on at New Castle, below Enterprise.
There, great success followed and "Zuckerman Brothers" finally placed thousands
of acres in crops under the pump. (They had one well that delivered 1700 gallons
per minute, or nearly four cubic feet per second. One cubic foot per second is
7
sufficient water for one hundred acres.) They also developed the largest potato
farm in the world.
This well development continued on down to Beryl, then to Milford.
At the same time flowing wells were drilled in an area later called Welton,
a few miles below Filmore. (These were pumped later . ) A few wells were success­fully
drilled at Delta and vicinity . The flowing wells became clogged by sand
and were cleaned out with compressed air.
Other pump wells were made in northern Utah, that have continued to
operate through the years .
In Colorado, Kansas , and other prairie states, ground water was
developed for maturing crops on marginal lands, that would seldom mature a crop
without supplemental irrigation. Developmen t of ground water in these areas was
considered to be quite s uccessful. They used previously perforated screens
and dug shallow wells chiefly, by hand.
Shoal Creek
An effort was successfully made to place Shoal Creek in the north
western corner of Washington County , Utah, under complete control, and do so
without "borrowing". The plan was to have local water users and beneficiaries
do all the work and bear all the expense.
Commencing in 1891 a dam and reservoir near the head of the south
branch was begun. This was continued through the years, a little at a time
until 1912 when it was completed . (The masonry arch was completed in 1892)
But the plan, prepared by Isaac Macfarlane of St. George , indicated that there
should be a heavy embankment of dirt above the masonry arch, and that the earth
should be faced , up stream, by a heavy rip rap of loose rock. This part was
finished in 1912. After tha t the au thor "took over".
Much water had been lost at and above the old diversion works where
only a wide wash of gravel and sand is situated. In 1916 this diversion was
made up stream about three miles, below a spot Where a small lake had formerly
been, and just above where the overflow was lost in a sand wash. (See picture)
8
An excavation about twenty feet deep was made, then filled with clay. (Over
one second foot of water was recovered from the sand.) The entire structure
served as the new diversion. It was constructed by the water users who came out
with teams, scrapers, and wagons with dump boards to do the work . (The canal is
in clay most of the way from that point on.)
The first reservoir on the south fork of Shoal Creek, was not large
enough to hold all of the flood water, therefore a second one, lower down and
below another watershed, was designed and laid out. The author drew the plans,
prepared them for signature of the president of the company and followed them
through the State Engineer's Office.) The water users made the final addition
in height, (fourteen feet) after the engineer had shown them how to build with
rock for forms, and how the interior might be filled with rock, using only
enough good concrete to cover the rock. (He did not supervise final construction)
All the water coming from the second watershed is diverted through a
tunnel , into the upper storage reservoir. The lower one is filled from the
overflow. (These two reservoirs serve a good purpose in water conservation -
they also make most excellent fish ponds. They have cold spring water coming
in. Both are provided with cutoff walls at the outlet to prevent the last six
feet of water from being drained out. Some times, during a good season water
is held over by thrifty water users.)
On the west branch of Shoal Creek is a rather large water-shed that
extends west to the Nevada line, and into the rough terrain to the south-west.
Another watershed covers the hills to the south of Enterprise. But these two
sources of water contribute streams only at long intervals.
To take care of extra flood water the dry wash that extends north of
Enterprise was worked on about 1951 by the State Roads and by Iron County.
(A road was being built to certain points in Iron County that was open to floods
from Shoal Creek) To eliminate the flood hazard to the new road a plug in the
channel was made. (This was carried high enough to divert the entire flood stream)
A diversion channel and dike was also built .
9
Through the dike at intervals of about six hundred feet, slots about
four inches wide were made of concrete through the dike, or bank of the flood
channel . Below each slot high dikes were built and channels, parallel to the
main flow in the new diversion were made about one hundred feet each way.
(This was to avoid the cutting of deep gullies below each slot.)
The slots were made to provide for automatic delivery of water to a
strip of sage brush and grass range land about one Bnd one half mile wide. The
surplus water from these lands would go to build up the water table for pump
wells near by.
In addit ion to the solid plug across the sand wash, it was necessary
to strengthen weak places in the east bank of the channel for about one mile up
along the Zuckerman property_ (The diversion channel is on the west s i de.)
Need For Cooperation In Buil ding Headworks and Canals
There was found to be great need for cooperative effort in building
canals and headworks for them. For example , in the Rancagua Valley , near
San tiago, Chile, South America, there is a spot where nine canals have their
headworks near the same place. The canals run for at least two miles across a
gravel bar where much of the water diverted into them is lost. (There are nine
canals running side by side , some of them for at least 40 miles.) The headworks
and main canals were des i gned by an engi neering firm from eastern United States
of America .
When asked , one of the officials of the canals said: "Why we could not
j oi n with any of the upper users they woul d get all of the water and we wo uld
get none at low water time. Facts are they did not have a word for "cooperation"
and the term had no meaning for them.
(There was work to do for the United States' Engineering firm but they
di d not do it . )
The same situation was found in Iran. There, it is the rule to maintain
a separate canal for each village, even though it means nine to twelve canals
taking out from a stream above a single dam. (It is the custom for an entire
10
village to be owned and controlled by a single landlord). Often there is not room
between canals for the sediment that must be cleaned from them. The inevitable
result is that year after year the space between canals is piled higher and higher.
It is common to see as many as six men with shovels , passing the canal sediment
from one to another, to the top of the narrow ridge between canals.
Lack of cooperation is not limited to foreign countries . In Montana,
at or near East Helena, there is a place where as many as fourteen ditches run
near each other across a strip of open prairie land. Each ditch runs to an
individual farm . This lack of coordination, and tremendous loss of water,
"harks" back to mining days when each development had its independent ditch for
hydraulic slucing in the process of gold collection.
Where there is no cooperation the first users on a stream get more than
their proportion of water. This was the case on Zyende Rud (River) in Iran when
the supply fell low. But, the Director General from the United States of America ,
who had full responsibility stepped in, saved the water that was being wasted
above, and took it to all users below . He saved their crops and averted a famine.
After viewing , personally, the condition of crops in the lower valley,
and after seeing the immense waste of water above , he had the heads of villages
below and above cal l ed together by the Governor General and from them received
consent for complete control of the stream for a period of two weeks. Nature
was also kind for it stormed on the watershed.
The Director General did not need this consent, for he had full authority
to take complete control of the river; but he preferred to have all water users
with him.
Everybody , down to the last water user, received water for a complete
irrigation, and all crops were saved.
At times like this, drastic action must be taken in order to get results.
Early Experience With Floods
As early as 1901 it was observed that in desert country floods flow
down ridges rather than down depressions .
11
Our engineering party, was out on location of an extension to the
Union Pacific Railroad . We had selected a spot in California that seemed to
be good for a camp. It was high, dry. and had a coating of clean gravel underneath.
The first day out a heavy thunder storm passed over. We returned to
camp in the evening to find that a flood had swept by, and only a part of one
tent was left standing. (The cook had managed to save the portion over his hot
cook stove.) The others and our beds were picked up as far as one to two miles
below. After that we always chose low spots, protected from mountain floods, for
camp sites, for we learned that in desert country floods flow down ridges rather
than down depressions.
Torrential Floods
From time immorial torrential floods have occured. This is particularly
evident below the mouth of canyons in mountain areas, where huge fans have been
buil t and where there is evidence of repeated "mud flows" that have occured
during the ages, while mountain canyons have been cu~, deeper and deeper.
Even since the recent time, geologically , when Lake Bonneville went
out , there is much evidence of "mud flows" at the mouths of canyons. A most
striking example is that of Little Cottonwood Canyon, where, below the mouth
of the canyon , the channel has cut away a large part of t he gravel and sand that
deposited as an alluvial fan or delta, when Lake Bonneville occupied the area.
At the first level up from t he present river channel many ribs of boulders and
dirt were observed in 1957. willow Creek Country Club was then being started.
These ribs were thick (everyone hundred feet at least) across a river bottom
area a mile wide, distributed over what was then an alternate oak brush and rock
and old mud flow flat. The builders of the new country club had only to rake the
boulders out of the remnants of mud flows to find wonderful mountain loam to use
as a base for the new golf greens. They now have an eighteen hole golf course
and had only to add surface soil from near by to make greens as fine as can be
found. The mountain loam. brought down in "mud flow" is chiefly responsible.
12
Flood At Spring City in 1917 - (Consolidation)
In 1917 a torrential storm struck the watershed above Spring City.
It was followed by a terrific flood down the canyon. Huge boulders were carried
long distances . The head works of canal systems were destroyed. But out of it
came one good result . Consolidation. Formerly there were four independent di tches.
Now there is but one irrigation system . The water rights in the four ditches
were "pooled" and new stock was issued that covers all. Each water user drew
out of the consolidation , stock equivelent to the shares he had turned in. Now
each user draws water in proportion to the stock he holds.
Consol idation at Daniel
In 1922 consolidation of three companies and one independent di tch
was made at Daniel. Users turned out and repaired a high water reservoir dam
in Strawberry area that had been carelessly built. They made a second dam and
reservoir and repaired a tunnel leading through the divide. They also put water
in their homes from a spring nearby.
Since 1922, they have prospered. Other improvements such as sidewalks
for the town, a new meeting house and a new school house have been made.
Jetties
It was found in 1929 that jetties placed perpendicular to the stream
has the desired result of holding the flow to a course between the ends of them.
This was observed on the lower Missouri River and immediately below on the
Mississippi River. In both cases it was necessary that the stream, which carried
a high percentage of silt, be held to a centralized course for the sake of making
navigation possible. This observation was made while on a trip down to the mouth
of the Mississippi and back on a government boat , with army engineers.
The jetties were lines of piling to which cross poles were attached
to break the current and cause a deposit of silt.
Jetties on Santa Clara Creek
In 1932 a study was made of flood action on Santa Clara Creek where
en t ire farms had been washed away, and others, even on high banks were being
13
badly damaged.
In 1933, when a C C C Camp was established jus t above St. George, the
first job outlined by the author for them was t hat of placing the Lower Santa
Clara Creek under control.
A channel through the area was outlined, and jetties perpendicular to
it were laid out. Bulldozers were used to mark the channel through the brush
and to doze out trenches for jetties about every two hundred to five hundred
feet. In these strips that were about two feet deep, rolls of combination fence
wire were unrolled. On the wi re , l ava rock from an abundant supply nearby , were
placed i n r i cks, about the hei ght estimated for maximum flow of high water, or a
little under this level. Then more fence wire was unrolled. The joints were
fastened by number six telephone wire.
These jetties have worked. Silt has been deposited between them.
This soil produced grass, trees , forests of black willow, and brush. In many
cases farms were recovered .
Jetties On Provo River
In 1950 a new highway was being built south, up along Provo River from
Hailstone on Highway 50. A channel change was made about half way to Francis.
But high water in 1950 refused to follow the new channel . It jumped the bank
at the first turn , and followed down its ol d course, tak ing out over a mile of
the new highway and gouging out a deep gorge. Five engineers from the Salt Lake
office were called out. But they did nothing effective . They put several
trucks at work hauling rock and dumping them into the stream, but they were
washed down as fast as they were dumped . Finally the job was turned over to
the author and his aides who placed the flood back in its new channel with
one jetty built perpendicular to the road . First a large shovel was obtained
to load large rock, and three trucks were made available for hauling them.
Five loads of these large rock were dumped on the new highway just
below where the stream had jumped its bank. A 0-8 Cat . then pushed the rocks
into the flood stream. More rock were added until the stream was pushed back
14
into its channel. The jetty was not left until it had been raised so high that
it was safe against further floods .
It was necessary to carry one end of the jetty upstream near the new
road until high ground was reached.
The job described only required about six hours. But more jetties
were built during the next few days. These were located about every three
hundred feet, and were carried far enough down the river so that there was no
further danger of overflow.
Weber River Jetties
In 1952 Weber River went out of control because of flood. It jumped
out of a new channel and flowed down highway U.S. 30, damaging it for over a mile.
Even the Un ion Pacific Railroad was threatened and the officials were
very much alarmed. At the author's request, a train load of large rock was
brought in. They were used to good advantage in holding down large poplar trees
that were anchored perpendicular to the stream. Over them strong jetties were
built and the flood stream was finally forced back into its new channel. A
gravel and rock pit was opened nearby and many trucks and a large shovel raised
the jetties to their present height.
Terracing
Over a large part of the prairie states , and extending on into eastern
United States, terrac ing of farm lands in 1934, 1935 and after, became a common
pract i ce . For this an elevating grader threw up dikes along the contours of each
farm every thirty to one hundred fifty feet, depending upon steepness of slope.
This was to catch, and make use of all moisture that should come, and to prevent
"runoff" and erosion.
In order to provide for passing surplus water from one level to another
a series of rock-concrete drops was installed. These have proved to be quite
satisfactory .
Pomerene - Arizona
A splendid example of headward erosion from down stream, is found at
15
Pomerene, Arizona, where, about 19 20 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built a
diversion dam for Benson and Pomerene lands, on the San Pedro River channel.
The San Pedro rises in Mexico, and flows north. It is usually very small, less
than ten second feet, but it becomes a raging torrent at flood time.
This diversion dam failed, due to headward erosion from down stream and
a high flood. (The building of this dam caused a change in the streams gradient,
or slope. In adjusting to the new gradient, the channel downstream cut rather
heavily (about six feet). When this occured the structure failed.
It was replaced by a structure built by water users of Pomerene in 1923
when the Mormon Church came to the rescue and provided money enough to buy cement
and other items requiring cash. The Church asked the author to take charge.
The new dam was located about one mile upstream from the one that had
failed . It was made of stone fixed by concre te, and had an apron down stream with a
cutoff wall at the lower edge about six feet deep. The water users of Pomerene were
told that they would have to build a second apron about four feet, at least , below
t he first one. This was also reported to the Church , and i t was advised that a
dragline would be needed for the second apron. (This was procured during the
next few months and it was delivered to Pomerene direct . )
The next year the second apron was built. The east wing wall had been
built in loose sand. A leak at flood time caused the back fill to wash out and
damage the wing. The crest of the main structure was extended thirty feet.
This placed the east wing wall in firm ground and provided more capacity. The
new apron downstream was built as planned. As far as is known this diversion
dam has continued to operate.
Structures
A system of construction was worked out by which reservoir dams, diversion
works, controls, gate installations etc, have been constructed, in such a manner
as to effect great economy, so much in fact that water users have been able to
build the i r own, without going into debt. In each case materials available
have been use~, rather than to remove good material to make room for that which is
16
inferior. Reference is made in particular to the use of boulders that have with­stood
t he wearing effect, the abrasion sustained, through being rolled and tumbled
abou t in passing down a stream bed from a source high in the mountains to the mouths
of canyons, as compared to the use of reinforced concrete. It has been found that
channels lined with such boulders are virtually everlasting, whereas channels
that are lined with concrete may wear through, even in two years. Likewise, gate
and spill way structures that are subject to the wearing effect of flood streams
that carry sand and gravel may have large holes worn through spill crests or
apron floors, within as little as two years. If the struc t ure i s built of boulders
set in concrete with only boulder surfaces exposed, the structures last
indefinitely. Likewise retaining walls bUklt of boulders are superior to concrete.
For example a retaining wall (a wing wall) thirty feet high and sixty feet long
was built of boulders set in concrete. (The base of this wall is four feet thick.)
The wall was drawn in immediately above the base to only thirty inches in thickness.
It was tapered to twenty-four inches on top, at a heigh t of thirty feet. This
wall, about fifty days later, was backfilled to the top surface on the back s i de
and to about nine feet qf the top on the other side. (The lower portion had been
filled by the flood stream.) This wall is above the Kennecott Garfield Smelter,
twenty-two miles west of Salt Lake City .
A similar wall, with exactly t he same dimentions, was built at the intake
to Bear River Migratory Water Fowl Refuge, sixteen miles south-west of Brigham City.
Only the best of water washed agregates were used. (There are none better,
Brigham City agregates were used) The wall was heavily reinforced with steel
and left to cure fifty days before being back-filled. It was then back-filled
by dragline in the same way that the rubble wall had been filled with silt out
of the river.
The concrete wall broke in three places. It was pulled back by
turn- buckles on cables, attached to "dead men". The wall made of rubble in
concrete did not break nor was it pushed out of line by the back-filling.
Both wallS, built in 19 28 , are in operation in 1963.
17
Back-Fill ing
Even in the installation of wooden headgates or turnou t gates, back­filling
was found to be a very important operation. For example, in 1921 the
East Millard Canal was new. It had never carried a large stream of water.
Word was received that the diversion dam was complete and that a full
canal would follow immediately. Three men from Australia were here from World War
One . They had been sent to Utah for practical experience in irrigation. The canal
was temporarily being operated under the immediate direction of the engineer to whom
these men were assigned. He was irrigation specialist in Utah on a cooperative
basis between Utah and U.S . D.A) He had received word that a large head of water
was coming . He rounded up the Australians, started his car and said; "You men
have come for experience in irrigation . We will get it now. Our first job is at
the intake of a lateral system . There is no time to waste. Up this canal about
seven or eight miles a wooden turnout gate was installed some time ago, and it
will wash out unless steps are taken at once to correct an error. We can save
it if we hurry. Get your clothes off for you will need to jump in beside the
gate while I procure empty grain sacks for holding sand and soil" They were
all "good sports" and readily stripped to their shorts.
When the engineer returned from a ranch nearby with the empty bags,
the water had arrived and the Austrailians were filling the breach where soil
had settled. They were "clawing" dirt to keep water from running over. One
of them came to shovel soil and sand into the bags. The structure was saved.
The engineer knew that the wooden turnout gate had been installed without
having been "puddled". That the backfill had been tamped, but that the material
would settle still more when encountered by water, and that it would go out unless
it were "puddled" in .
This principle is important , and must be applied in every case where
back-filling of loosened material is made .
Compaction Of Back-Fill With Water Essential
In another instance, this same engineer was called in to ascertain
18
whether or not sand, gravel and soil that had been filled in where a concrete
floor was to be laid in a Governmental Hospital had been properly compacted. He
found the contractors' men attempting to compact soil, sand and gravel with an
electric vibrator tamper . He knew that such material could not be fully compacted
by tamping. He so reported to the governmental inspector, and advised that water
be used. The contractor was notified by the inspector that if settlement and
cracking of the floor should occur, it would be required that the new concrete be
removed, and the material beneath the floor be properly settled before a new
floor should be laid.
The contractor indicated that he was following directions in the
"handbook". He proceeded to lay the floor but it settled, cracked, and he was
required to take it out. This time he compacted the sub base with water as
he had been advised to do fonnerly. (Subsequently he added several yards of
additional fill material to bring the subsurface up to grade).
In anot her case a heavy wall was being moved . The contractor
attempted to level the new setting with sand tamped in with an elec tric vibrator.
But the wall settled two inches when the rains came. Fortunately i t had been
under-pinned with a heavy strip of reinforced concrete and it did not crack,
but settled evenly.
In another instance, five large culverts were built beneath a state
highway between Minersville and Milford. These culverts were hand made with
rubble in concrete and are five feet wide and eight feet high. The hard surfaced
highway was cut for the installation, and detours were constructed for traff ic.
When the culverts were finished, eighteen hundred gallons of water was
used for each culvert as back filling by bulldozer proceeded. In order that
very little water should be wasted, earthen dams were built at both ends of the
culverts, on either side. Rocks, gravel, sand and dirt , taken out as the
excavation was made, was dozed back in as back fill . This crowded the water up.
When filling was complete, the surplus water was wasted . Traffic was resumed
in two days , and no further settlement occured.
19
This is contrary to normal proceedures. Always there is settling.
However small the culvert, compaction is never complete until after a second
filling. Then it is filled again and there is usually a bump left. It remains
a bump until the area is resurfaced.
The answer is: settle new fill with water rather than with any kind
of tamping.
Rubble Masonry
At the mouth of every canyon deposits of boulders are made larger
each spring by high water. Diversion dams for irrigation canals are usually
temporary, being composed of brush, rocks, straw and coarse manure as a rule.
These temporary structures fail when runoff is high, and require re-building .
Sometimes the structure is masonry, the better ones having been made of concrete .
Improved structures are made of boulders from the stream-bed, set in
concrete, in such a manner as to leave only the rock surface exposed to wear.
Structures built in this way twenty to thirty years ago, have shown
no sign of deteriation. They give evidence of being ever-lasting.
Sometimes it has been possible to move the "head works" down stream.
This has called for a high structure, but the canal or canals are shortened by
the amount of the move . In these cases - the basins thus formed have served as
"stilling pools" to catch, and hold back, silt, sand, gravel, rock, and floating
debris at flood time , and have saved the irrigators much labor in canal and ditch
cleaning. Always, however, the operators have the problem of "headward erosion".
This can be handled by building an apron, or aprons at sufficiently low elevations
to take care of erosion when i t comes. Sometimes it has been necessary to build
a second apron at six or more feet lower than the first to take care of the new
downstream gradient until permanent slopes have been established.
In building these structures where the banks are solid, the shape
of the new structure is "cut out" to form. In this case, only one thickness of rock
is necessary. Concrete is spaded between the bank and the rock or layer of boulders .
These are placed on edge , rather than flat as the "stone mason" places them. They
are set with the thick end out , the highes t point of t he large end on line, t he
20
long axis being pointed inward and downward, and each boulder resting in the
saddle between two boulders already in place. No forming is required.
In situations where there is no bank to build against, the side walls
are made double. In such cases the best shaped boulders are used on exposed
surfaces. Concrete is spaded between rows of boulders , layer by layer . All
voids are filled.
These structures are begun by bu ilding a cutoff wall downstream six
or more feet deep. Then the floor i s laid by covering the excavated area a foot
or so at a t ime with concrete four to s ix inches deep. Into the new concrete,
boulders are placed with the thick ends up, the points down , the long axis
being pointed downward, and slping backward . Each boulder is placed on edge
and is made to fit into a "saddle" formed by two boulders already in place.
In this way boulders in the floor are made to lay "shingle fashion". No concrete
remains exposed . But the lower end of each boulder is embedded in concrete , and
concre te is spaded between boulders until all voids are filled.
The side walls, or wing walls are blended into the floor and apron so that
there is no space to mark the ending of one or the beginning of the other.
Once again , the structure begins with the downstream cutoff wall, then
the apron , then the floor, t hen the side walls and t he wing walls. When built in
this way the struc t ure is vir t ually ever-lasting, provided that care ,be used to
avoid destruct ion from downstream by "headward erosion".
Early Experience in Gravel and Sand Control
In 1921 a request for help came from Nephi. High water was flowing
from Salt Creek, back of Mount Nebo , and from other minor sources. But the stream
carried excessive volumes of sand and gravel, that had to be moved before the
water could be used. (It was necessary that the water be used when it was high,
for it dropped very low afterwards).
As the stream crossed through town great, high banks, of sand and gravel
were made. (When the request was received these banks, raised by team and tongue
sc"raper, had reached the height of ten and twelve feet, and were growing higher)"
21
At Manti a diversion dam started in 1891 had reached a height of over
twenty five feet, and it had stopped all sand, gravel, flood rocks, and floating
flood debris. This was used as an example of what could be done. Accordingly a
dike fifteen hundred feet long was laid out across the creek east of Mount Nebo.
(Purposly a section of channel was chosen where the stream could spread) . The
dike was built by team and scraper . For a spillway dry pine logs were laid across
the channel. On these were placed juniper posts. The structure was raised, layer
upon layer until a crest height of about five feet was reached. Timber cribs for
wings were filled with rocks and these were "puddled" into the dikes on either
side in such a way as to make them leak proof. The juniper posts were also
puddled at the top ends, into an earthen fill so that the stream was forced to
flow over. rather than around the structure.
A similar barrier and spillway was built below the forks of the stream
at the south side of Mount Nebo. And a temporary check was made east of Nephi.
The last structure was built to catch the gravel and sand already in the channel.
About this time the state constructed the first concrete surfaced road
north from Nephi toward Salt Lake Ci ty. All of the sand and gravel scraped from
the stream at Nephi was used.
(In 1939 the author was approached by a citizen of Nephi, who said: "Will
you please let a little sand and gravel down to us? We have runtentirely out:) .
Other similar structures were built at Kanosh, on Corn Creek, at Filmore
on Chalk Creek, and elsewhere .
The Barrier System
Above each spill crest there must be provision for a "stilling pool"
where the flood stream will be slowed down to drop its load. (The larger t he
pool the better.)
The heavy material carried by the flood will drop as it approaches the
pool. Only fine sand and silt will be pushed out into quiet water. Rocks and
gravel build up a fan above the stilling pool. (The s urface of this fan i s not
level, but has a slope.) If the barrier is long t he floating debris finds lodgement
on either side of the spillway and may be removed by burning after the flood stream
22
has passed, and t he debris has become sufficiently dry.
The ultimate height of the spill crest may be estimated by making the
design on "the ground". It will vary with conditions. But it must be planned
for raising and must have adequate thickness of base for the additional height
of crest required later . The principle factor to consider in design is slope.
Barrier System at Kennecott's Garfield Smelter
In one case a barrier was built where the slope is twelve and one half
feet per one hundred feet . At number six structure, Kennecott Garfield Smelter,
the main flood control barrier was built in 1927 with its crest eighty three feet
above stream-bed. The second crest level built in 1928 was one hundred feet up.
The final crest built in 1938 is one hundred fourteen feet above stream-bed.
(Provision is made for going still higher if necessary. The need for additional
height depends upon the flood situation.) Naturally the barrier must be raised
far enough above the crest so that there shall always be adequate "free-board"
above the level of flood streams.
In the case in question t he barrier was built with a five cubic yard
bucket, running on a cable six hundred feet long, and operated by an engine and
winch under a fifty foot tower. mounted over movable rails twenty four feet apart.
This structure is t he principle one of three barriers located above
the Kennecott Smelter twenty two miles west of Salt Lake City. One of these
barriers is high above and one part way up the slope. seven other structures
serve only as drops to pass the flood water to lower levels.
Barrier At Farmington
A barrier at the north end of Farmington in Davis County. was built in
1924 by the people of Farmington, working under direction of the author who was
irrigation specialist for Utah. The barrier was made of soil , sand and gravel
hauled in by team and wagon (with "dump boards") from a pit nearby. These teams
were furnished and driven by citizens of Farmington. The sp il lway was built out
of flood boulders, with i ts crest six feet high at first. This was raised about
23
eighteen inches at a time each year. un t il it reached a final height of thirty
four feet. Cement for this structure was furnished by Ut ah Stat e Road Commission.
(The barrier protects the old state highway from inundation.) Aggregates were
procured from the basin above.
(In 1954 the State built an "overpass" nearby. and a new state highway
through Davis County. Materials stored above the spillway were used for building
the fills and the "overpass".)
Barrier at Willard
On August 13, 1923 a flood struck Willard that made three paths through
the town . Along each path orchards and homes were destroyed. On the north path
there was a huge flow of mud and rocks that left a great scar where homes and
orchards had been . On this strip covered only with large rocks, mud and boulders
after the flood, a barrier basin was built . Boxelder County and the State Land
Board bought the strip east of the highway and made it available as a site for
flood control.
I t was necessary to build a dike on the north. on the south and along
the east border of the highway to make the basin. (The distance to high ground
on the east i s about seventeen hundred feet.)
In 1924 a crude spillway was built in the north west corner. where a
drop of about ten feet was made to reach bottom of a new channel under the highway
bridge. This temporary spillway and drop was constructed out of large rocks from
the flood deposit. (No concrete was used in 1924). The next year, after spring
high water was over , this temporary structure was made permanent by building on it
the spillway as it now stands out of flood rocks and large boulders cemented into
place. The concrete was added as the spillway was bu i lt, layer upon layer.
This spillway was continued upward year after year for three years,
until it had gained its present height of twenty four feet from the channel
under the bridge to the spill crest .
The banks along the highway and on either side were raised during
spring high water. The gravel laden stream was held close to the outside of the
24
basin by placing orchard trimmings in a continuous "rick" around the basin, and
by the use of one fourth inch mesh wire from "war surplus" sources. Then teams
on tongue scrapers were used to build up the outer bank. The teams and drivers
were furnished by Willard (volunteer labor). To aid in controlling the high
water stream, cross jetties of tree limbs were built in such a manner that part
or all of the stream could be carried to south or north at will.
After several years of automatic operation, when absolutely no upkeep
was given, another large summer flood came , and part of it ran over the south
bank. A considerable amount of volunteer brush and trees had grown on the
interior of the basin.
More trees and brush were planted to channelize the stream. (I do
not know who did the planting.) A huge "nick" was but in the spillway to make
sure that another flood stream should not go over the banks.
In 1954, the same engineer who planned the works in the beginning, was
in the maintenance division of the state highways. He repaired the breach in
the spillway , dozed out the plantings, made by someone, and the volunteer brush
and timber that had grown up. He raised the outer banks and left the basin open.
Nothing further has been reported.
Drop Inlets In Southern Utah
While with the Utah State Road Commission, many drop inlets were built
into culverts, to aid in the passing of flood streams under rather than over the
roads. In many cases the drops were built in connection with barriers. (Barriers
serve to slow down the flood and make it drop its debris). It was observed that
debris rather than flood- water causes most of the damage.
The first, and most extensive application of the barrier- drop inlet
system, was developed in Iron County, then in Beaver County, then Washington
County, then in Millard County.
In the area north of Cedar City is a stream called Fiddlers Creek.
It comes from the high mountain area east of Cedar City. In 1946 a heavy flood
brought down an immense deposit of mud, boulders, and rocks, landing them across
25
and below Highway 91. A huge collection of tumble weeds along a wire fence east
of t he road caused the flood mass to build up to the very top of this fence on
the north side without leaving a trace of flood debris on the south.
A barrier: basin and spillway with a drop into a large culvert
beneath it was built . In addition a reservoir was constructed on the west side
of the highway, for containing the flood water after the flood debris was dropped
out . Furthermore a barrier and splitter for dividing the flood stream was built
about one and one half miles east .
Kanarrah
A former race track north of Kanarrah was converted into a barrier basin
and a sp illway was built out of black lava rock. These were water rounded boulders
and were hauled in from Washington County.
The barrier is on Kanarrah Creek that comes from the high mountains on
the east and flows either to north into Shirts Lake or south into Ash Creek. (It
strikes the very top of the rim of the Great Basin. The stream may go north, or
it may go south.)
This structure with its drop, operated in 1946 and in 1947 but has been
comparatively idle ever since. The spill channel leading to the bridge is about
one hundred feet long. It runs on a diagonal to the bridge . The spillway is
buil t on the east s ide of t he north and south right of way.
A heavy flood in 1946 brought down a great collection of dead quaking
aspen timber that lodged and clogged the bridge beneath the highway.
At the south endo-f Kanarrsh abarrier-drop-inlet spillway and a culvert
five feet wide and eight feet deep was made. The barrier was built with dirt
from within the basin. The spillway and culvert was made of boulders held in
place by concrete. They were hauled in from WaShington County nearby.
Minersville - Milford Highway
Reference has already been made to five large culverts built across
the highway between Minersville and Milford.
These replaced twenty four, two foot culverts that had been completely
26
filled with sand, gravel and other flood debris from the foothill area on the
north, under the Beaver Mountains.
These five culverts were located at suitable spots where water from
them could enter a large canal fUrther down a gentle slope. This canal runs
more or less parallel to the highway.
In order to catch all the flood water that would come down from the
north, a continuous barrier was built from a location near Minersville on the
south and continuing northerly more than ten miles to the vicinity of Milford.
This dike is about six feet high. Above each of the five large culverts is a
drop inlet through the barrier . Part of the flood water may go on north past each
culvert, if there should be a surplus. (There is a light gradient to the north
toward Milford.)
When examined in 1958, culverts were clean and the barrier above was
in perfect shape for operation.
Skull-Rock Pass
About fifty miles west of Del ta is a low pass known as "Skull-rock".
(There is a large rock standing out , alone, that looks like a huge human skull.)
On this pass and on west to the Nevada line, considerable work was done about 1954.
A series of floods had clogged culverts and had gone over the new highway,
inflicting considerable damage, to the down stream shoulder in particular.
The "Barrier System" was used extensively. In each case the spillway
was made as a "Drop Inlet" so as to pass the flood water under the road. In some
cases the road fill was sufficiently high to serve as a barrier, in which event
no further barrier was built. But in every case a drop inlet was made to hold
the flood-stream back while it dropped its load of heavy debris, and while the
weeds and brush brought down by the flood was dropped. Also to pass relatively
clear water under the road.
In some cases on top of the pass the flood streams came in over a
broad expanse of territory and went over the highway at random, between culverts.
In these cases ditches with dikes on the lower sides were built, to collect the
27
streams and guide the floods to culverts already in place under the new highway.
In no case was it considered to be necessary to install a new, or a larger
culvert. In some instances the channels are as long as half a mile.
In one situation, on the western slope of the "pass" a dike was built
about six feet high and about seven hundred feet long below a water-shed, in order
to check the flood stream and make it drop its burden of flood debris, before
running on for over one half mile to a large culvert. This dike contained a
considerable amount of white, chalky, powdery material that gave way when the
next flood came. The holes that were blown out, were filled later on and repair
was made with better material from further away. This time the dike held.
Drops Above Bridges
In Salina Canyon a barrier was built above a bridge and a drop was made
as a part of the sp illway through the barrier . This was done in 1933, and it has
worked with satisfaction ever since. In the same year a barrier was built above
a bridge on Haights Creek in Davis County . This has been quite satisfactory.
Bridge at Vernal Across Ashley Creek
In 1948 a new concrete bridge, with a span of seventy two feet, was
built across Ashley Creek on highway U 44 leading north to Daggett County. When
built the bridge had a clearance of ten feet. But during spring high-water in
1949 i t was completely filled by boulders, and the final flood stream ran across
the road.
Late in 1949 steps were taken to prepare this bridge for spring high­water
in 1950. A dragline was placed down stream twelve hundred feet. When
excavation reached the bridge, the new channel was over ten feet deep.
A cable was attached to the drag-line bucket. This cable was ultimately
worked under the bridge and attached to a small tractor on the other side. The
tractor pulled the bucket in. It was loaded, at first by hand. Ultimately a
hole large enough for a 0-8 catipillar tractor was worked through. The large
tractor, working with the dragline, opened a channel eighty feet up stream from the
bridge, leaving a vertical bank in the frozen mass of boulders. (It was cold
28
when this stage was reached.)
In order to provide for holding the boulders upstream, when the floods
should come, large trees from nearby were dozed down and in. These were worked
into single sections and limbs by ax and by saw and were placed by man power
aided by bulldozer and dragline, into a semi-circular crib under the high bank.
A shoulder was added to the highway. It was widened and the dikes were
extended upstream to high ground. (These side dikes are about two thousand feet
apart.) Thus adequate space for storing of boulders and other flood debris
carried by Ashley Creek was provided.
No attempt was made at first to build a permanent structure at the
spillway. It could have been done but the protection against freezing was not
considered to be economical.
Some holes were left in the cribbing . These were filled by dozing in
Squaw bush from a large supply nearby. Filling was made complete after the
high-water flood stream began.
Care was used by the bulldozer operator who brought the squaw brush
in, to avoid turning them over. The great mass of roots were left down . These
plugged the openings in the crib-work and made the structure tight.
When the flood stream dropped, a permanent spillway was built without
disturbing the crib work already in place. A one cubic yard mixer was used. Into
it was mixed the best grade of concrete we knew how to mix. Into this all the
boulders were added that could be coated. The mass was then spread over the crest
and down the slopes of the spillway. The mixture was handled dry as possible,
not only for desired strength but also that it would cover the steep slope of
the spillway, and would stay "put" where placed.
At the base of the spillway , a deep hole had been washed out by the
1950 floodwater. This was filled with boulders from under the bridge. These were
covered with the mixture of boulders in concrete.
It has been stated that the spill crest is semi-circular in form. It
was and is about 100 feet in length.
29
Wing walls to the desired heigh t were built by placing boulders from
the basin and from the large piles made by drag-line, in the manner already
described for masonry of this type.
The floor or apron of the spillway was extended all the way under the
bridge and on down about eight feet to the end of the wingwalls where a deep
cutoff wall was built. Then i t was extended about six feet further and up the
sides as high as the downstream wings to avoid cutting around t he downstream
wings of the bridge. To date the entire job has worked satisfactorily. The
bridge is clean underneath and the channel downstream is open. All rocks,
boulders, gravel. sand and flood debris have been caught and held above the
barrier and spillway.
Loss of Head at Intake of Culvert Corrected
It was observed that a large culvert. carrying high-water to lands
below the bridge at Vernal was super full at the upper end and was only eighty
per cent full at the outlet. This was corrected by cutting a slit about
eighteen inches long at the upper end, then by lifting the two wings of the "slit"
high enough so that they would stand.
There is a tendency for "vacuum" to form immediately below the intake
to a culvert . This causes a loss of "head" and the culvert cannot flow entirely
full. This vacuum can be relieved in various ways. It has been overcome by
welding in a small pipe through which air may flow to relieve the vacuum .
This has been successfully done on a county installation near Preston , Idaho,
where a culvert of limited size was already available, where a high road fill
had washed out and needed to be replaced at once. It was also required that
the culvert when re-installed be made to operate at full capacity. An eight
inch pipe was available. This was used. It was welded in on a slope at the
upper edge of the intake. The culvert now continues to operate. The eight inch
pipe takes in air and water and the culvert flows full at the lower end. (The
eight inch pipe was cut off even with the upper end of the culvert.)
Near Black Lake in Quebec, Canada a large culvert through what was to
30
be a high dam, was found to flow only about eighty percent full at the lower end.
It was made to flow full by installing a small pipe at the intake in the same
way as that described for Preston, Idaho. The pipe is four inches in diameter.
Willow Creek Country Club - More About Culverts
At the new country club south of Salt Lake City (the willow Creek),
near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon a rubble lined canal carries Little
Cottonwood by a long stretch of dry wash where the stream, at very low water,
was lost. In making driveways along this canal it was found to be necessary to
"cut" the canal in two places. There thirty six inch standard corrugated culverts
were installed. But, the irrigators below objected on the grounds that the pipes
were not large enough. They proposed that the culverts be replaced by multiplate
arches. This would have meant a great loss to the company. Finally the
irrigators specified that, if the culverts could be made to carry the full stream
required, they would agree to let them remain.
The culverts were found to be flowing only abou t eighty percent full.
Correction at intake was made by building a funnel in take out of sheet
iron. (This was used only as a form for concrete.) A short slit, one foot long,
was made on the upper edge of both culverts, and the ahort wings were bent upward .
After this operation the culverts were found to flow full, and they took
the maximum stream that the water master turned down.
The Barrier System Employed
The principle job at "Willow Creek" was that of controling floods in
Little Cottonwood where willow Creek enters . At t his junction there was a great
accumulation of boulders and other flood debris. (Sand, gravel and floating debris.)
This had been a hazard to canal operators, and even to streets and highways three
miles below.
All has been stopped . A barrier extends across the entire channel from
high ground on the west, across Willow Creek to the high bank on t he east. At the
pos ition where the spillway was ins talled , there is a drop of about eight feet.
The spillway is sixteen feet wide and the wings are sixteen feet high.
31
The downstream wings are made long enough to support a bridge that will carry t en
tons. The spillway has a bottom of rubble masonry, a downstream cutoff wall and
pavement up the sides of the new channel to the tops of t he banks . I t has a
semi- circular crest about twenty five feet long.
The spillway is built out of rubble , set in concrete . I t was made in
three days by two University of Utah students with three student helpers, none
of whom had ever lain rock or boulders before.
The flood channel downstream formerly spread over an area seven hundred
f i fty feet wide , in many channels. It now flows in one channel fifty fee t wide on
top. The numerous flood channels were eliminated in 1958. Before "high water"
eleven cross jetties were built by bulldozer. The firs t one was attached to high
ground on the east . The second one to high ground on the we st . The third one
attached on the east, open on the west and so on down to number eleven where the
stream was returned to a single, natural channel. The jetties were about one
hundred fifty feet apart.
When the stream dropped to one hundred second feet, (from about six
hundred fifty maximum) a single channel was cut through the je tt ies, according
to previous agreement with water users and with County Officials .
The jetties were then knocked down. The material they contained helped
to cover the rocks. Additional fine material was brought in from fans under the
high bank on the east . At the north where the stream leaves the willow Creek
property a barrier and spillway was built to catch the fine material uncovered
and left when the new channel was built. (This basin is now nearly full of good,
water washed sand and gravel.)
Hydraulic Fills
In at least two instances, Leo A. Snow of St. George used the hydraulic
f i ll successfully in building dams out of fine sand, (the only material available).
One of these is a storage reservoir for St. George, where the stream from Pine
Valley Mountain was held when not needed. He used lava rock available in
abundance, to bui ld up t he outsides of the dam. Between these rows of rocks,
32
built higher, and higher, layer after layer, he flushed in sand with the mountain
water supply until the dam was completed.
When it was finished it held water. It has been in operation for more
than forty five years .
He also built a dam at Ivins, near Santa Clara out of fine sand. The
reservoir above it is filled by high water from Santa Clara Creek. that flows
through the Ivins Canal. This reservoir is too low to serve Ivins; but it supplies
water for Santa Clara and the St . George lands along the Santa Clara Creek. Ivins
in this way, has obtained water from Santa Clara Creek at low water t ime equivelent
to the amount stored above the hydraulic filled dam .
Hydraulic Fill at Five Mile Gulch
Near Preston . Idaho is a deep, long gorge called Five Mile. (It is
about five miles long). It has washed out to a depth of two hundred feet and over.
This gorge filled Bear River for twenty miles with silt.
In correcting t he condition a permanent drop was made where the flood
stream from Dayton Creek was cutting further and further back. (Five Mile forks,
near Dayton. One fork runs far to the north, the other into the mountain range
west of Dayton . )
Below this fork a dam was built seventy two feet high . The only ma terial
available is fine sand. Therefore Dayton Creek was turned out on either side and
the water was used in helping to build t he dam. Rims upstream and down were
raised by bulldozer about four feet at a time. Then the basin left was filled
with sand and water. (Two bulldozers were used. so that is one should sink
down the other could help it out ; but such help was never needed.)
When the basins were full, the surplus water was drawn off; then new
dikes were raised and the operation was continued . The two bulldozers were used
to bring in sand faster t han it could be brought by water alone . (They worked
on either side in the channels where the water flowed . )
At a height of twenty five feet a twenty four inch pipe was laid through
the dam. I t was placed at this level rather than on the bottom for two reasons .
33
First, i t seemed to be advisable to provide a basin where silt from flood waters
migh t settle. Second it was thought to be possible to save water from normal
flow for irrigation.
The first objective was readily accomplished. In the second instance,
supplemental water has been furnished for two farms. (They have about 160 acres
each.) Formerly, these farms had water for only about forty acres each. Now the
lake, twenty five feet deep, supplies all the water needed. (The in-flow is
surplus from the lands above. It must be pumped of course)
Five Mile channel, serves a useful purpose in providing adequate drainage
for the farm lands on either side.
Black Lake, In Quebec , Canada (Hydraulic Fills)
Three and one half miles east of Black Lake, Canada is a valley two
and one half miles long above a dam which is now eighty feet high, that has been
built out of gravel and sand, entirely . The fill material was moved by a large
dredge and a thirty inch pipe from Black Lake.
The American Smelting and Refining Company had purchased the lake.
(A mine had been explored. It was fifty feet below the surface.)
A huge dredge was built and floated on the lake. It was equipped with
a l arge horizontal centrifugal pump that stood nine feet high. There was also
a long line of floating "pontoons" (large tanks filled with air. ) and three and
one half miles of thirty inch iron pipe with walls originally one half inch thick.
The suction end of the pump was mounted on a great arm that would move
up to a horizontal position and downward to a depth of forty feet. The movement
of the pipe arm plus the movement of the dredge made it possible to swing the
suction pipe horizontally 60° . This suction pipe was preceeded by a revolving
cutter eight feet in diameter and nine feet deep.
A booster pump was located on the north lake shore and a second
"booster pump" was in the line about one mile further along. Both pumps are as
I arge as the one in the dredge.
At the delivery end of the long pipe, the valley narrowed to less than
34
one thousand feet, on top of the 80 foo t dam . Before starting the dam a line of
three foot pipe was laid through the dam site 1500 fee t wi t h a tower at the upper
end. The tower is made of channel iron and arranged so that eight inch by eigh t
inch flash timbers might be installed all around as the dredged material filled in.
(This dam was planned to create a basin for holding dredged mate~ial from Black
Lake as the mine was uncovered and drained.)
At first, no provision was provided for "loss of head" at the intake of
the outlet pipe; but a small pipe was welded in later to admit air and some water,
if necessary, to overcome the vacuum that forms just inside the intake of any
culvert. In this way the fifteen hundred feet of pipe through the dam was made
to flow full. (There are a series of recreation lakes further down Becancour River.
For this reason nothing but clear water from Black Lake was permitted to enter
the river system. Becancour was only a creek of less than ten second feet most
of the time.)
At first the dredged material was only sand and gravel. The pipe line
delivered about one hundred ten cubic feet per second, and this great volume of
water carried about twenty five percent solids. (The velocity through the pipe
~as about nineteen feet per second . )
(The heavy material was dropped near the outlet end of the pipe or was
carried forward depending upon whether it flowed into open water above the dam or
into the channel left by the bulldozers . )
The dam was raised, three or four feet at a t ime by bulldozers, working
in water, pushing up rim, after rim on the lower side, while on the upper side,
somet imes a rim was built , sometimes the sediment was allowed to flow "lake ~ard".
as the s urface rose. Usually a rim was built on the upper side as well. (It was
realized that sand and gravel had been deposited on glacial formation. Sand and
gravel was limited and the dam must be raised before sand and gravel gave out.)
No difficulty was experienced from running bulldozers over the newly
deposited sand and gravel, in the ~ater , It was never necessary to help a
bulldozer out. The operators were careful to keep their machines always level
35
or nearly so.
Once the new dam built of sand and gravel, soaked through, slides on
the lower side occured. These were checked by covering them with clay and soil
from nearby.
Under the deposit of sand and gravel at Black Lake, blue and blue­black
clay was encount ered. It con tained small boulders at first. These became
larger and larger as greater depths were reached. The clay encountered is
"boulder clay" that was dropped thousands of years ago during the period of
glaciation. This clay was compacted and was so hard that i t coul d not be
penetrated by the powerfu l cutter that ran in front of the s uction pipe. There­fore
t he clay had to be drilled and blasted to loosen i t for the pump to pick up.
This clay whipped up into a "batter" that refused to settle and to give
up i ts water. By experiment, i t was found that this ma terial could be settled by
adding alum . But this was prohibi t ive. (Too expensive). Finally i t was found
that settlement might be made wi t h lime. Accordingly, several car loads of
lime were procured, and introduced . At first , a flat boat was used. I t went
back and forth, from one end of the lake to the other, and lime was dumped
over the entire area. Then more lime was dumped into t he stream as i t issued
from the dredge.
Meanwhile a return canal was built all the way to Black Lake . It was
necessary that the lake surface be kept cons t ant, or nearly so while t he dredge
operated over the entire surface exposed. (The original lake was shaped like
a peanut. Across the narrow section a dam was buil t to hold water in the south
end. The mine is in the north end.)
Obviously the boulder clay could not be used for dam building . But,
the dam had been built to full height, eighty fee t , while the dredged materials
were sand and gravel. Boulder clay had one favorable charac teristic, i t sealed
the dam !£ that i t stopped ~ ~.
(A second outlet , at a high level was built. The firs t ou t le t pipe
began to fail and was found to be leak ing at joints about half way through the
36
dam. But it did not fail completely, and is still in condition for operation
if necessary. However, it is completely shut off by flash timbers in the tower
at the upper end.) By encasing the outlet pipe in reinforced concrete, as in
t he seventy two foot high dam on Five Mile, in southern Idaho , (where a two foot
pipe through the dam was encased in concrete), it is probable that the hazard
of failure could have been avoided.
In connection with the Black Lake Dam in Canada, the pipe that was
one half inch thick at beginning wore through in many places . (The great pump
in the dredge and the two booster pumps would handle rocks over a foot in
diameter.) As the pit beside the mine became deeper, the boulders encountered
became more numerous and larger. Finally it was found to be necessary that they
be broken .
Two depository basins were laid out close by. and the better lengths
of pipe were used. Even then it was found to be necessary to install "liners"
in the pipes . The pipes had been turned (rotated) every week, so as to make the
wear more uniform.)
Finally the stream seemed to carry more than twenty five percent of
heavy material, and this was composed very largely of rock . However, there was
enough sand and gravel mixed in so that dikes were built across the low areas ,
which was at least one half the way around each new basin. (These dikes are
about ten feet high.) They, too , were pumped in and were raised by bulldozer.
Bines Gulch (Wash)
Checking Movement of Silt
Immediately north of Five Mile Gulch in southern Idaho is "B ines Gulch" .
It renewed its activity in 1952 during the time that Five Mile was being placed
under control! Two new areas started flowing from under high banks. One in
particular moved very rapidly starting through a sugar beet field across a
large farm. The other moved more slowly. The banks were about sixty feet high.
The one at the head of t he gulch caved as often as every fifteen minu tes. (The
large flow of seepage water at t he base of the high banks flowed out carrying
37
fi ne sand along. In this way hugh caverns were excavated , then, caving began . )
Attention was diverted to this channel that emptied first into Deep
Creek then into Bear River just above the entrance of Five Mile Gulch.
Juniper trees, growing on ridges nearby, were dozed in just below the
two heavy inflows. These were covered by sand. The dams were made sufficiently
high to stop the caving by forcing the seepage water to flow out more quietly at
a high level. Then rock drops were hauled in by truck to the stream bed . They
were placed across the channel at intervals of about 250 feet all the way down
to the entrance into Deep Creek. a little less than one mile below. Work was
continued until only clear seepage water entered Deep Creek.
The total t ime spent on Bines Gulch was about s ix days, with two bull-dozers,
a t wo and one half cubic yard shovel, five trucks and three extra men.
Thus a farm was saved, and Bear River was helped.
Black-Willow Cuttings
Similar operations were carried part way down Five Mile. In addition
cuttings of black willow about fifteen feet long were jetted in, two rows of them,
from the dam down. A few plantings were also made above the dam.
Black willow cuttings were chosen because black willow sends out a
root system that goes downward far below ground water surface.
The rows of cuttings were jetted in about sixteen feet apart, and were
left exposed three or four feet.
Two mistakes were made. First the exposed section was too long . It
sent out new shoots at first, about six inches. These looked good and we were
very much encouraged. Then the leaves and the new shoots died, except those
near the ground. We reasoned that t he new growth came from t he sap that was in
the cuttings. (They were cut in May. and came from areas at the south end of
Cache Valley, about 30 miles.) As soon as a root system was developed the shoots
near the ground grew fast. Now there are two lines of willow trees as far down
as the plantings were made,
Second The second mistake was that of setting the two rows of cuttings
too close together . They should be at lea~t thirty feet apart, instead of only
38
sixteen feet . Erosion began between the rows of cuttings and a channel at least
four feet deep was washed out below each rock drop. The cuttings leaned inward.
Tumble weeds gathered in. The inward leanings of the cuttings made it difficult
or nearly impossible for a tractor to operate within the channel.
Results have been good anyway. Only clear water was observed flowing
over the last rock drop - that is at least half way down the gulch. The flow of
silt into the Bear River has been s topped.
Three additional areas received black willow plantings and all have
been successful. One is at Kanab. (The cuttings for Kanab came from below Zions
Park between Rockville and Springdale.)
Bosque Del Apache
Another area that was protected by black willow plant ings was Bosque.
Del Apache. A Government Migratory Water Fowl Refuge on the Rio Grande River,
about fifty miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico . There the willow tops were
planted in a deep furrow across the top, (north) end and along the east border
next to the river. The willows grew and produced a mass of roo ts that protects
the refuge against high water.
St . David, Arizona
A third area is above St . David, Arizona in the south east corner of
Arizona . There, about 1927, the head works of a canal system was protected
against floods from San Pedro River that flows north out of Mexico . (The stream­bed
is nearly dry except when in flood)
At St. David the cuttings were from three to s ix inches in diameter,
and were set as fence posts. (They were only t hree to four feet apart.) No check
was made to determine what happened, only that the cuttings grew. They sent
out shoots when photographed, that were three to six inches long.
Where water is available, a pump may be used in setting the cuttings.
In this event i t is desireable to attach a fire hose to the pump, then reduce i t
at the outlet end, by using a short piece of seven eights inch or one inch pipe~
(About four feet long). The pipe attached to t he end of the hose, may be pointed
39
downward when jetting. If the formation is sand , a hole fifteen feet or less
deep may be jetted in a few seconds, and it will remain open while the cutting
is inserted to the depth desired. (It is necessary that each cutting be planted
below permanent water level.) Experience has shown that only twelve or fifteen
inches of each cutting should be left exposed . There are exceptions of course
as at St . David where the cuttings were large and were used as fence posts .
Finale
I used to think that "commencement" is a misnomen; that it should be
"finish" or some similar term designating that a student had gone through college
and was then ready to meet the problems of life. But actually, when I went into
the field, and came face to face with some of the real things to be solved , I
realized how little I knew; that the term "commencement" is worded correctly.
I was in reality only starting my education; that practical experience is worth
as much as a university education.
In practice I have drawn more from the teaching of my father than from
anyone thing learned in two universities .
It was A. P. Winsor II who said: "Son, if you want to build something
and you do not have what you think you need, look around and you will find
something that will do". That simple statement has been worth much to me .
This humble effort, that covers the important phases of irrigation
and flood control is dedicated to him, my Father.
40
Pivture Supplement
~
~
41
Irrigation Experimental Farm at
Roosevelt- Uintah Basin
A. P. Winsor Homestead at
Enterpr i se , Utah - 1900
20 Mule Team - Hauling Borax
from Death valley
43
44
Sam Halterman pumping
1st well at Cedar City
1915. About 325 gal ­lons
per minute.
2nd well at Cedar City .
Previously perforated
casing - 1919 .
Irrigating from a
deep well at
Mil ford. Utah.
45
Under Current Dam
Excavation - Enterpri se
The same, after i t was f il­led
with clay and prepared
as a Diversion Dam.
Storage Dam Number 2 at
Enterprise . This dam
was rai sed later by the
water users without help
except to be shown .
Jim Barnum guarding Number one dam at
Enterprise during World War 1.
46
Complete diversion of Shoal
Creek below Enterprise .
Final flood control .
The Same during flood.
Teams on Fresno scrapers.
47
Building a dam and a
roadway across Potato
Creek above Escalante ,
Utah.
The South end of the
same dam after 15
years of service. A
channel was cut
through rock and a
bridge put over the
channel.
A portion of the
Zuckerman Potato
farm near
Enterprise, Utah.
Deep Spring at Las Vegas - 1901. Sometimes
referred to as "Big Spring" . The Carl
Stradley U. P . Survey Part y passed by and
stopped for a swim . Notice the floating
island of sand . The sand island is not
really t here , but was only a "hoax".
48
George D. Clyde and
Russel Croft pumping
a deep well at
Welton, Utah - 1921.
Large boulder brought down by flood - Spring Ci ty, Utah - 1917.
Home at Ford Creek , Davis Coun ty , Utah .
Wrecked by flood of June 10 , 1930 .
49
Parish Creek Flood - 1931
Davis County, Utah
A sp i llway for dam above Minot , North Dakota.
The dam backs wa"ter to t he Canadian border
some 30 miles . Contractor used rocks by
preference. They are present in abundance .
50
Barrier Dam at Burlington ,
North Dakota . - 1935 - .
Large Spillway in
Montana - 1935.
Throughout the Prairie
States and the East,
erosion problems were
corrected by terracing
the farm lands. A
series of rock and
concrete structures
were used to pass the
water caught by terr­aces
to lower levels
or to streams below.
At Panaca, Nevada, summer floods
had plagued the settlers for
several years. These were con­trolled
in 1934. A dike on the
east under the foot hills with a
channel and masonry drops on the
south, solved the problem.
El Paso, Texas - Flood Control Structure .
51
These two pictures show canals
side by s ide in Rancagua Valley,
Chili, South America. The
author noticed the same thing
in Iran (Persia).
52
Ru th Dredger - Kalamath. Oregon
Ruth Dredger at Wil lows, Californi a.
Improving refuge for Geese - 1938.
Spillway at Kalamath Falls , Oregon .
53
/
Drop above bridge -
Salina Canyon, Utah
Barrier Spillway
Mt . Pleasant, Utah
Moving a bridge at
Salina Creek, Utah
Piers 16 feet apart .
Similar structure
and bridge built at
Little Cottonwood,
Utah.
Section of spill channel,
No. 10 - under construction.
Portion of channel leading
past end of No. 10 Barrier
at Kennecott Smelter.
The over- flow section is
from a tennel through the
Barrier. This was used
only temporarily while
flood deposit above No.
10 was forming.
No.2 Structure - Kennecott Smel ter.
The opening is same size
drain through the plant.
top i s for emergency.
55
as original
Spill on
Spill through above
barrier, raised to
83 feet in 1927 .
56
No.6 Barrier, Kennecott
Smelter. Built in 1927.
Looking down through No. 6
spillway. See screen on
No. 5 and mouth of new
tunnel under plant built
at No.2.
North Path at Willard . State Land Board & Box Elder
County purchased land, made
i t available for flood control.
57
Barrier basin
at Willard.
This picture
1925.
Interior of
Barrier basin
1925.
Santa Clara Creek , high
bank under farm. Eroded
by flood .
Jet ty built perpendicular
to stream .
58
Winsor divers ion and
sil t control dam.
Pomerene Diversion Dam on San Pedro River - Arizona,
Starting work on lower apron, Crest of original dam
to be extended 30 feet.
Bureau of Reclamation Dam after failure,
Looking North - down stream.
59
About 1925, a channel was cut across the farm
lands from Dayton east to Bear River. For a
while, it worked satisfactorily. Then, about
1935, it began to erode and soon a deep gorge
was cut , cal led Five Mile Gorge.
Sil t from the gorge soon worked
down t hrough the river for over
twenty miles. Plantings of
willows in the gorge by Soil Con­servation
Service did no good.
In 1952, the writer was c al l ed in.
A permanent, high drop was built
at the head of t he gorge while the
flood was on. A dam of sand-- 72
ft . high--was sl uiced into place.
Rock drops were built and black
willow chutes, 15 ft . long, were
planted along both s ides of a new
channel in the bottom of the go rge.
All silt has been stopped.
60
Barrier and Spillway in Salina Canyon, Utah
High Spillway through barrier in Salina Canyon, Utah
Spillway through barrier at old horse race track,
North of Kararrah .
Rock came from Washington County, hauled about
20 miles . They are water worn lava rock from
an old stream bed.
61
One lane of tra'ffic
opened past barn.
62
On August 13, 1923 a
flood cut 3 different
paths through Willard .
A barn floated down
South path at left.
North path purchased
by Utah Land Board
and Box Elder County
and converted into
Flood Control Basin .
Barn on highway brought
1/4 mile by flood.
Boulder over 300 tons, brought over 1/4 mile by flood
of August 13, 1923. Farmington Canyon, Utah.
Barrier and spill built i n 1924 to control floods.
Spill 6 feet high . Farmington, Utah.
Same spill when raised to final height 34 feet.
63
Culvert through highway
below above spillway_
Construction of culvert
in progress.
64
Looking toward road over
crest of a drop-inlet
spillway, through a
barrier on. the
Minersville - Milford
highway, Utah.
. .1
j~
•
J,J .II"
North wing and portion
of crest of drop inlet
spillway above large
hand made culvert at
Fiddler's Wash - Cedar
City, Utah
Wing Wall in process of construction . Kennecott
Smelter at Garfield , Utah. This wall is described in
text (page 17). It was 4 feet thick at base, then was
drawn in rapidly to 30 inches. It stands 30 feet high
and 60 feet long. It was back- filled when 50 days old
with mud from within the channel without being thrown
out of line and without breaking. It is 24 inches
thick on top.
Rubble masonry spillway from Medicine Lake - Montana.
65
66
Bridge at Hanksvil le , Utah .
Foundation could not be
found on Fremont River
(Dirty Devil below). Two
deep piling bridges had
been washed out of Dirty
Devil . Therefore one
bridge across new channel
through rock out- cropp i ng
on one s ide, installed on
Fremont River, above and
same on Muddy River above
junction. Main Channels
blocked.
Cottonwood trees and rocks
served as revetment of dikes
across channels. New road
built on dikes .
Looking down stream t hrough
new wing walls to barrier
spillway, 1958. This
structure built in 3 days
by 2 University of Utah
students , helped by 3 others.
None of these boys had ever
layed a rock before. Later
a bridge was built .
67
Beginning of Barrier System of Flood
Control , 1921 . This structure at Manti,
Utah, was begun in 1891 as a Diversion
Dam . It stopped flood debris although
crest was only 18 inches high to begin
with. When photographed in 1921 it
stood over 30 feet high, having been
raised a few inches each year.
The first barrier built
as a flood control structure
in 1921 by water users of
Nephi , Utah . This one
has a barrier 1500 feet
long and a crest 5 feet
high.
The spill crest back of
Mount Nebo at Nephi, Utah.
New bridge across Ashley Creek at Vernal Utah , after
it had been cleared of boulders . (It filled completely
f irst year after construction). After a drop-inlet
was built with a flood barrier, it has been kept
clean . Looking down stream.
Due to excessive freezing, a temporary spillway of
timber was built.
When high water was over, the temporary spillway was
covered with boulders in concrete. This was carried
under the bridge and on below the side wing walls,
over a deep cutoff wall below the bridge.
68
Mr. H. D. Bradford, Executive Vice President
of A. S. and R. Company of New York and
Pres ident of Lake Asbestos of Quebec is
shown standing in the giant cutter that,
when attached, is made to revolve in front
of the suction end of a 30 inch pipe that
leads into a giant pump in the dredge.
This revolving tool cuts its way through
most obstructions , but it would not
penetrate boulder clay.
69
Upper end of 1500 feet of
36 inch pipe t hrough the
dam at Black Lake, Quebec,
Canada . To overcome the
loss of head at intake a
small pipe was welded in
as shown . In this way
the culvert was made to
flow full at the lower
end .
70
Outlet of 30 inch pipe from
dredge on Black Lake, Canada ,
3; miles away . Pipe origin­al
ly was ! inch thick . I t
carried 110 second feet of
water t hat conducted 25~
solid sludge. This was used
first in building a dam 80
feet high and o~iginally 1500
feet thick at its base.
The dredge after it had removed
50 feet of water, sand . gravel,
silt and mud.
The same dredge converted into
a powerful monitor.
71
In 1957, the author was called
by Taylor Burton and associates
to outline a plan for controll ing
Little Cottonwood flood stream ,
where it leaves t he Wasatch
mountains and enters Great Salt
Lake Valley . The stream carries
much flood debris, includ ing
boulders up to 14 inches in
diameter.
The plan outlined, ca\led for a
barrier all the way across t he
stream , below t he entrance of
willow Creek.
It was pu t into operation. Mean­while
a new Coun try Club House
has been built and an 18 hol e
golf course has been establ i s hed.
Original ly, the channel divided
into many streams and spread over
an area 750 feet wide. This was
leveled by making the flood
stream z i g- zag between 11 cross
jetties 150 feet apart into which
sand from the high fans on the
East was dumped.
When the stream subsided from
650 second feet to 100 second
feet , the jetties were leveled
down and the stream was confined
to one channel 50 feet wide where
it now flows .
72
Mexican Springs, New Mexico
Excavation for bowl shaped
spillway. looking south
along center line of dam
just above waterworks well ,
Mexican City.
View shows detail of ex­cavation
for crest, also
cut~off up stream. The
spillway is to be buil t
over the earth core as
indicated .
view of bowl - shaped spillway
showing rock work carried
nearly to top of compacted
earth core, also cut- off
trench up stream. Mexi can
Sp rings, New Mexico. 1934.
North wing of bowl-type
spil lway finished. Wing
extends 14 feet above
crest . Mexican Spri ngs,
New Mexico, 1934.
Five Mile, Idaho. Cuttings
of Black Willow were jetted
in more than 10 feet. But
they should have gone down
still deeper and rows
should be at least 30 feet
apart. However, all have
grown. Now there is a
solid mat of willow trees.
At St. David, Arizona , the same general
results are in evidence.
At Kanab, Utah , the town , the highway, and the canal
have been saved. This picture - looking up stream ,
canal, road and town on right.
73
Skull-Rock Pass
Canal leading to culvert, to save flood from going
over the road.
At the end of canals drop-inlets were made for catching
floating weeds, brush and trash, and to check and hold
back sand and gravel. Roadways were usually high
enough to serve as barriers .
74
In 1922 surveys were made for several small reservoirs in Utah . It had been
observed that small reservoirs have a definite beneficial place in irrigation
practice. This is particularly true where the water supply is very limited
and streams are small .
75
A typical sand dam hold­ing
water from Pine Val­ley
MO un tain for St.
George, Utah.
Lava rock on outside,
sand sluiced between
to desired elevation.
Leo A. Snow, the
engineer, did many
things of this nature.
He was ultra conserv­ative
and found ways
of doing things that
would save expense.
76
Two bull dozers in ditch of
water helping the small
stream to wash sand in for
the Dam below the forks of
Five Mile stream in Sou thern
Idaho.
Bines Wash. Road where
juniper trees were dozed
in to build a dam and
stop the caving of
valuable farm land.
Five Mile. Truck
dumping rock for
building silt
control dam.
Flood at Kanarrah
brought down a
huge amount of
quaking aspen.
These were lod­ged
above high­way
bridge .
Hydranger installed
ready for preparing
way for a 24 inch .
cuI vert.
77
Davi s Creek , Davis
County . Boulder
brought out by
August flood 1926.
An ideal barrier and spillway for flood control.
Note t he amount of water held back and the steep slope of material
above the still water.
This i s obtained by:
a. length of barrier
b . height of spil lway,
The structure is at Farmington , Utah. The sp ill crest was only
6 feet above stream bed to begin with, but i t was raised year
after year unt il it reached i ts present height of 34 feet, The
last addition was made in 1954 .
78
SUPPLEMENl'
FLOOD OONTROL BY U. S. ARMY ENGINEERS
The method which seems to have been adopted by U. S. Flood Control
Engineers is to make a flood stream carry its load of debris on to the sea. Where
banks of the stream stand in danger of overflowing during periods of flood, levies
are built. These have been lined or are in process of being raised. These levies
are lined on the water side to prevent erosion. The lining is usually concrete
poured in place or is made out of pre cast slabs which are cabled together.
By forcing this flood debris , - consisting of silt, sand , gravel, and
floating debris, - on to the sea fans are built out further and further. The most
notable example is the Mississippi River which receives all the water and debris
from the Missouri River; the Illinois River; the Ohio River and other minor streams .
Another example is the St. Johns River in Florida. Another is the
Jordan River , and tributaries in Utah. And still another is Los Angeles River, and
other flood streams in Los Angeles County, California. The latter will be discussed
in detail.
The flood control feature in this book, deals with a method of control
of mountain streams by which flood debris is stopped before it enters the main
river channels, thus eliminating the tremendous expense of building lining and
maintaining dikes. It e11minates the necessity of pushing deltas further and
further into the ocean or gulf , and i t provides fresh water for building up the
ground water levelS, so that the water thus stored may be made available for
culinary use.
LOS ANGELES COUNrY FLOOD OONl'ROL
An effort has been made by the engineers in charge of flood streams
through Los Angeles and vicinity to control the floods and prevent them from
doing damage to life and property. In doing this the United States has been called
upon for help. At the time work was started the author had published a bulletin
on flood control. This was in November 1933. It was bulletin number 165 of the
Uni ted States Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publications, under the
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title: The Barrier System for Control of Floods in Mountain Streams. Advice was
asked . The Army Engineers were advised to stop flood debris at the entrance to main
channels or above them . They were advised to establish barriers, below basins where
debris could be stopped and controlled, and to build spillway crests with adequate
foundations for future raising as the basins filled and as dikes were built to
higher level s.
They located many barrier basins, but built permanen t spillways below
them with "0 Gee" curved , concrete surfaces. No provision was made for raising to
new levels as t he basins filled.
Several large dams were bu il t to catch flood waters. In addit i on channels
leading to the sea were diked on each side where they were weak and were faced on
the ins ide with concrete in order that the flood streams might flow on to the sea.
Later, the author examined the area and was disappointed when he saw that
no provision had been made for raising the levels of barriers.
Originally, provision could have been made for larger basins. But. when
examined , "real estate sharks" had already located people at the edge of basins.
There was no chance for enlargement , even then. I t is much worse now.
When asked how the engineers proposed to handle debris as the basins
filled, he was answered : "Oh, we will l oad it on trucks and haul i t out." But
that has never been done. Now t here is no place where i t may be dumped.
There seem to be two main objections to the plan in operation : First,
the flood debris is carried on to the sea, where i t builds out deltas that become
larger with every flood. Second , the precious rain water is wasted in the ocean.
(Fresh water i s a "boon" in Los Angeles where it is needed for domestic use.)
With t he large reservoirs , some flood water i s held back. This , when
run out slowly, sinks into the ground or r uns into spreading basins and helps to
build up the "water table". (Some provision has been made for "spreading".)
(But the principle spread ing works was designed by the Bureau of Agricultural
Engineers, no t by the U. S. Flood Control Engineers.)
Deep wells have been made deeper and pumps have been lowered un til they
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began to pump salt water because the "water table" had dropped below sea level.
Other barriers, basins and spillways have been built in Utah, in states
of the United States of America, and in other countries of the world.
TIlE BARRIER SYSTEM OF FLOOD CONTROL
All barriers other than those in Los Angeles County have been built by me
with the intention that spillways should be raised as basins above are filled with
flood debris, rather than to "haul it out".
At Garfield smelter west of Salt Lake City, Utah, the original spill crest
was built eighty ~hree feet above t he channel below, in 1927. In 1928 this crest
was raised to a height of one hundred feet above stream-bed . In 1938 it was raised
to one hundred fourteen feet, and provision was made for raising indefinitely
higher if higher levels be needed for holding all flood debris at any future time .
At Farmington, Utah, the spill crest was started in 1924 at a height of
six feet above stream-bed. In 1954 this same barrier spill crest had reached a
height of thirty four feet. An immense volume of sand and gravel was held back.
This was used by the State of Utah for building a new over pass near Farming·ton
and as sub grade for a new highway about twenty miles long through Davis County.
It is not usually necessary to raise the flood barrier and crest of
spillways as often or as much as in the two cases sighted. There are nearly one
hundred barriers where the spill crest was bu il t, originally, high enough so that
further raising has not been necessary to date. The last one buil t was at the
mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon about thirteen miles south of Salt Lake City. Utah.
This barrier was constructed in 1958. It stops all boulders, gravel, sand and
silt, and most of the floating debris, which is lodged on the banks, where it
may be burned after the basin becomes dry . It is probable that the present barrier
will suffice for at least twenty years more .
The cres~ which is a sharp arch thirty feet long. was raised only six
feet above stream-bed. Down stream are wing walls sixteen feet high and sixteen
feet apart . On these a bridge was built that will carry ten tons.
The wings crest and bridge was built by common labor , the rock work
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having been done by five students from the University of Utah in three days.
The crest wing walls and down stream section that was made in two vertical piers,
were built out of flood boulders nine to fourteen inches in diameter, set in
concrete. The wings and down stream walls were made double, using only boulders
as forms, and placing " ready mix" concrete in the middle of each wall between
rows of boulders. The walls were raised in layers, one boulder high wi th each
pour of "ready mix".
This structure has served the new Willow Creek Country Club for five
years, and has stopped completely all gravel, sand and silt, that formerly filled
canals and ditches, and was a menace to numerous street and road crossings all
the way to Jordan River, about five miles below.
It is certainly recommended that flood barriers be built in preference
to the tremendously expensive system of building and lining dikes.
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